


I See You

by Shadowhunter_Artemis



Series: His Soulmate [1]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Protective Doctor (Doctor Who), Soulmates, doctor who - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-02-09 17:11:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 50,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18642472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowhunter_Artemis/pseuds/Shadowhunter_Artemis
Summary: When the TARDIS is drawn to Van Statten's museum, having received a mental call for help, the Doctor discovers something that'll change his life...





	1. Prologue

Freya lifted her head when she heard the door to her cell open. “You feeling like talking today?” Simmons asked. The Time Lady just stared at him, not saying a word. “No? Well perhaps another two days without food will loosen your tongue”, he snapped and slammed the door shut.

Two days without food was hardly a punishment anymore since she’d endured far worse over the 50 years she had been held captive. She leant her head back against the wall. How did it come to this? A prisoner to some rich human who thought her nothing more than a ‘pet’, a test subject.

Oh, wait she did know how it came to this. She was only trying to do the right thing by warning the humans about the Dalek. And how do they repay her? By locking her up and experimenting on her. _Of all the planets to crash land on, it just happens to be Earth_ she thought bitterly.

Earth used to be her favourite planet to learn about. She was always so fascinated by the people and their history…even their innovations. But now…now 50 years held captive was starting to make her change her views about humans. She knew that not all humans were like the ones that she had unfortunately met. Some are actually quite nice, though she never had the opportunity to meet one. Scratch that…she _had_ met someone who was fairly nice…who didn’t treat her like a mere test subject. The human had treated her as what she was, a living being.

Strangely enough, the young woman…Clara, she believed was her name, seemed almost familiar. Freya couldn’t quite place her though. She liked Clara. Then the Time Lady had gotten transferred to another facility and she never saw Clara again.

The Time Lady sighed and pulled her legs up to her chest, the chains around her wrists clinking as she did so. She wished that someone would come to rescue her, to save her from another 50 years of torture. _Someone…please help me…I don’t know how much longer I can do this_ she thought, tears starting to run down her face _I need a hero…_

~time vortex~

The TARDIS hurtled through the time vortex to the destination that her thief had programmed in.

_Someone…please help me…I don’t know how much longer I can do this…I need a hero…_

The ship perked up at this. Someone was calling out for help, a young female by the sound of it. Whoever it was needed a hero and there was no one better than the Doctor. She immediately altered course, heading straight for the source of the mental plea. Van Statten’s Museum.


	2. Van Statten's 'pets'

When the TARDIS materialised it was in a large, darkened room. "Where are we?" Rose asked looking around after she and the Doctor stepped out of the box. It was a little difficult to see their surroundings as there were no lights on.  
  
"Earth. Utah, North America. About half a mile underground", the Doctor replied.  
  
"When exactly are we?" Rose questioned.  
  
"2012", the Doctor answered.  
  
"God, that's so close”, the blonde remarked  “So I should be about....26?"  
  
Light flooded the place as the Doctor found the light switch and flicked it on.  
  
"Blimey! It's a great big museum", Rose said seeing the display cases around them.  
  
"An Alien Museum", the Doctor corrected walking past cases "Someone's got a hobby. They must have spent a fortune on this. Chunks of meteorite, moon dust...that's the milometer from the Roswell spaceship" he named them as he passes the cases.  
  
Rose then noticed something familiar in one of the cases "That's a bit of Slitheen! That's a Slitheen's arm", she said "And it's...ugh... stuffed", she added with a disgusted look on her face.   
  
"Ah! Look at you!" the Doctor said seeing something else in another case.  
  
"What is it?" Rose asked looking at what appeared to be a robot head with handlebars on top.  
  
"An old friend of mine...well, enemy. The stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit. I'm getting old", the Doctor replied.  
  
"Is that where the signal's coming from?" Rose questioned nodding to the robot head.  
  
"Nah, its stone dead. The signal's alive. Something's reaching out, calling for help" he places the tip of his finger on the glass. Immediately an alarm sounded and they're promptly surrounded by soldiers all pointing their guns at the pair.   
  
"If someone's collecting aliens, that makes you Exhibit A", Rose said putting her hands up.  
  
They were promptly escorted into an office by a ginger, curly haired woman named Diana Goddard. "What does it do?" Van Statten asked Adam who was showing him his latest purchase.  
  
"Well, you see the tubes on the side? It must be to channel something. I think maybe fuel", Adam guessed.  
  
"I really wouldn't hold it like that", the Doctor cut in seeing how Van Statten was holding the item in his hands.  
  
"Shut it", Godard snapped.   
  
"Really, though, that's wrong", the Doctor insisted.  
  
"Is it dangerous?" Adam asked eyeing the item warily.   
  
"No, it just looks silly", the Doctor replied reaching for the item. Several security personnel readied their weapons making him pause. Van Statten held up a hand, signalling the men to lower their weapons. He then handed the object to the Doctor. "You just need to be..." the Time Lord gently stroked the item and it made a pleasant noise "Delicate".  
“It's a musical instrument”, Van Statten commented.

“And it's a long way from home", the Time Lord added. Van Statten reached out and snatched it from him. He tried to replicate what the Doctor had done but all he managed to produce was some rather harsh sounds. "I did say delicate. It reacts to the smallest fingerprint. It needs precision", the Doctor said.  
  
Van Statten changed his touch on the instrument and pleasant sounds "Very good. Quite the expert", the Doctor said.  
  
"As are you", Van Statten said.  
  
Much to the dismay of the Doctor, he carelessly tossed the instrument aside. "Who exactly are you?" Van Statten asked.  
  
"I'm the Doctor. And who are you?" the Doctor asked with a new disdainful look in his eye.  
  
"Like you don't know. We're hidden away with the most valuable collection of extra-terrestrial artefacts in the world, and you just stumbled in by mistake", Van Statten.  
  
"Pretty much sums me up, yeah", the Doctor confirmed.  
  
"The question is, how did you get in? 53 floors down, with your little cat burglar accomplice" the man looked at Rose "You're quite a collector yourself, she's rather pretty", Van Statten said eyeing the blonde.

“She's gonna smack you if you keep calling her ‘she’”, the blonde said glaring at Van Statten.

"Oh, she's English too!" Van Statten exclaimed looking at the Doctor. To Adam he said "Hey, little Lord Fauntleroy, got yourself a girlfriend".

"This is Mr Henry Van Statten", Adam told them pretending not to hear the man's comment.  
  
"And who's he when he's at home?" Rose asked.  
  
"Mister Van Statten owns the internet", Adam said.  
  
"Don't be stupid. No one owns the internet", Rose retorted.  
  
"And let's just keep the whole world thinking that way, right kids?" Van Statten said.  
  
"So you're just about an expert in everything except the things in your museum. Anything you don't understand, you lock up", the Doctor said still glaring at the man slightly.  
  
"And you claim greater knowledge?" Van Statten asked.  
  
"I don't need to make claims, I know how good I am", the Doctor said.  
  
"And yet, I captured you. Right next to the Cage. What were you doing down there?" Van Statten asked.  
  
"You tell me", the Doctor said.  
  
"The cage contains my only two living specimens", Van Statten explained.   
  
"And what's are they?" the Doctor asked.  
  
"Like you don't know"  
  
"Show me", the Doctor challenged.  
  
"You want to see them?"  
  
"Blimey, you can smell the testosterone", Rose muttered under her breath.   
  
"Goddard, inform the Cage we're heading down" he then turned his attention to Adam "You, English. Look after the girl" to the Doctor he said "You, Doctor with no name...come and see my pets" with that Van Statten walked towards the lift.  
  
\-------------------------------------------------------------  
As Van Statten led the Doctor to the heavy door of the Cage, he felt something in his mind. It was small but nonetheless it was there. It was as if one of Van Statten’s ‘pets’ was trying to mentally reach out to him. Perhaps this was signal that the TARDIS had picked up and had subsequently brought them to the museum. Either way there were two living beings that needed his help. And help them he shall.

“We've tried everything”, Van Statten stated stopping outside the heavy door of the Cage “The creature has shielded itself but there's definite signs of life inside”. He turned, entered a code in the panel next to the door and it slid open.

“Inside?” the Doctor frowned “Inside what?”

“Welcome back, sir”, Simmons said stepping out, wearing a protective suit “I've had to take the power down. The Metaltron is resting”.

“Metaltron?” the Doctor asked brow raised. He’d seen and heard of a lot of things but never Metaltron. It sounded made up.

“Thought of it myself”, Van Statten said proudly “Good, isn't it? Although I'd much prefer to find out it's _real_ name. If you’re able to do that Doctor, I’ll let you see the other one”.

Simmons turned to the Doctor “Here, you'd better put these on….” he held out a pair of thick protective gloves “The last guy that touched it burst into flames”.

“I won't touch it then”, the Doctor said not taking the gloves from Simmons.

“Go ahead, Doctor” Van Statten gestured at the doors “Impress me”. He stepped back as the Doctor entered the Cage. “Don't open that door until we get a result”, Van Statten quietly said to a guard as they turned their attention to the monitor in order to keep an eye on what was going on in the Cage.

“Sir, I think I should check in on the other one”, Simmons spoke up gaining his boss’ attention “see if she’s a bit more talkative today”.

“That’s a good idea”, Van Statten agreed “just don’t be too rough, if the Doctor is successful with Metaltron, I want him to take a crack at the girl”. Simmons nodded and walked off, heading for Freya’s cell.

\------------

Freya felt more excited than usual but she had a very good reason. There was another of her kind nearby! _He or she must’ve heard my plea!_ She thought happily. The Time Lady sat up straight, eyes fixed on the door, a smile on her face…the first one in quite some time. And just like that her happiness vanished when the door opened to reveal…Simmons.

“Do we feel like talking today then?” he asked walking in, closing the door behind him. Freya stayed silent, praying that the Time Lord/Lady would appear soon. “No?” Simmons asked before striking her across the face. Freya’s eyes pricked with tears from the force of the slap but she kept her mouth clamped shut so she didn’t cry out. “Speak girl!” he ordered, hitting her again. Freya still refused to speak though her face was hurting. _Please walk in…please walk in…_ she silently pleaded casting a quick glance at the door.

Simmons stepped back staring at the Time Lady. She stared back at him, silent though he could see the pain in her brown eyes. He didn’t care though, he just wanted her to talk. “Fine”, he gritted out “maybe the Doctor will have better luck once he’s done with the Metaltron”.

Freya’s eyes widened and she let out a small gasp. The only other of her kind was locked in with a Dalek?! How could they!

Simmons smirked at her reaction. It seemed he may have found a way…or more specifically a reason to speak. “Oh yes, he’s in there right now…and he won’t be coming out until he’s gotten what we needed from the creature. Unless the Metaltron kills him first…”

Freya’s hearts seized up at this. She’d thought that she was the last of her kind for 50 years… but now the Doctor has shown up…she wasn’t alone anymore. So she couldn’t let the Doctor die! She couldn’t let him fall victim to the Dalek! If speaking would save his life, then she had to do it.

She swallowed several times to try and remove the dryness from her mouth, due to lack of water. “ _Pl-eas-e_ ”, Freya managed to get out in Gallifreyan, her voice barely a whisper.

“I’m sorry my dear, I cannot understand you”, Simmons said “I don’t know what language you were speaking but I need you to speak English”.

The Time Lady swallowed again. “P-lea-se”, Freya repeated in English this time. She didn’t think that talking after so long would prove to be a challenge but there it was. And she wasn’t at all surprised that the first thing she said came out in Gallifreyan. It _was_ her native language after all.

“Hm…let me think”, Simmons said and actually pretended to think about it before he said “I’m sorry my dear, I can’t do that. The boss wants him to stay in there until we get a result” Freya dropped her head, tears starting to form. Simmons put a hand under her chin and forced her head up “But I thank you for talking. I look forward to having proper conversations with you” he touched her cheek and Freya jerked her head away. She kept her head turned away even as Simmons left the room, shutting the door behind him. It was only then did she look at the door, tears now rolling down her face.


	3. The other alien is a what?!

Simmons headed back to the Cage a smug smile on his face. He’d finally found a way to get her to talk. He couldn’t wait to tell his boss. His smug smile was wiped off his face when he heard Van Statten shout “Get him out!”

Simmons hurried over in time to see his boss and several guards run into the Cage. He followed them in to see the Metaltron screaming as its being electrocuted.

“Help me!” it cried.

Two guards grab the Doctor, pulling him away from the lever. Simmons goes over to the control panel and turned the electricity off. “I saved your life. Now talk to me. Goddamn it, talk to me!” Van Statten ordered but the Dalek didn’t say another word.

“You've got to destroy it!” the Doctor shouted as he was dragged out of the Cage. Van Statten just ignored him and looked at the Dalek with a smirk. He now knew its name, its real name. It was the last in the universe and it was all _his._

“The last in the universe. And now I know your name. Dalek. Speak to me, Dalek” the alien didn’t speak “I am Henry van Statten, now recognise me!” the American demanded but again the Dalek didn’t say a word. Van Statten turned to Simmons “Make it talk again, Simmons” the man in question approached the Dalek with a greedy look in his eye “Whatever it takes”.

~Adam’s workshop~

“Sorry about the mess”, Adam said apologetically when they entered his workshop “Mr Van Statten sort of lets me do my own thing, so long as I deliver the goods” Adam handed Rose a piece of metal “What do you think that is?” 

“Er….a lump of metal?” Rose said unsure what it could be.

“Yeah. Yeah, but I think…well, I'm almost certain, it's from the hull of a spacecraft”, Adam explained “The thing is, it's all true. Everything the United Nations tries to keep quiet, spacecraft, aliens, visitors to Earth. They really exist”.

“That's amazing”, Rose said.

“I know it sounds incredible, but I honestly believe the whole universe is just teeming with life”, Adam said.

“I'm gobsmacked, yeah. And you do what, sit here and catalogue it?” Rose asked smiling slightly. _If only he knew that he’d just met an alien…_

“Best job in the world”, Adam said proudly.

“Imagine if you could get out there. Travel amongst the stars and see it for real”, Rose said.

“Yeah…I’d give anything. But I don’t think that’s ever gonna happen, not in our lifetimes”, Adam said.

“Oh you never know…what about all those people who say they’ve been inside spaceships and things and talked to aliens?” Rose asked.

“I think they’re nutters”, Adam replied.

“Yeah me too”, Rose agreed with a laugh “So…um…how did you end up here?”

“Van Statten has agents all over the world looking for geniuses to recruit”, Adam answered.

“Ah, right, you’re a genius”, Rose teased.

“Sorry, but yeah…can’t help it, I was born clever”, Adam said “When I was 8, I logged onto the US Defence System, nearly caused World War 3”, Adam explained with a laugh.

“What, and that’s funny is it?” Rose questioned not at all finding it amusing having very nearly experienced WWIII herself.

“Well you should’ve been there! Just to see them running about! Fantastic!” Adam said happily.

“You sound like the Doctor”, Rose remarked.

“Are you and him…?”

“No, we’re just friends”, Rose said quickly.

 “Good”, Adam said nodding.

“Why’s that good?” the blonde asked.

“Just is”, Adam replied they both held each other’s gaze for a moment before Rose looked away, glancing around at his workshop.

“So… Adam wouldn't you rather be downstairs?” Rose asked changing the subject “I mean, you've got these bits of metal and stuff, but Mr Van Statten's got a _living_ creature down there. Two of them!”

“Yeah… Yeah, well, I did ask, but he keeps it to himself. Although, if you're a genius, it doesn't take long to patch through on the comm. system”, Adam said.

“Let's have a look, then”, Rose said. She watched over Adam’s shoulder as he worked.

“I’ve only ever had a quick glimpse at the second alien before I was locked out of that system”, he explained as he typed away “I’ve been trying to get back in but unfortunately I haven’t been able to”.

“What does the second alien look like?” Rose asked, interested.

“Well… I didn’t really get a good look at it but from what I did see, the alien appears to be kinda like a human”

“And…the other one?” Rose asked. It didn’t seem right to her that an alien who appeared to look human was being locked away. _Wonder if the Doctor will do anything about that?_ she thought. Knowing him, the answer was likely to be ‘yes’.

“The other one doesn’t do much. It's weird, it's kind of useless… It's just like this… great big pepper pot”, Adam explained. On his computer screen, the camera feed of the Cage appeared.

“It's being tortured!” Rose exclaimed as they watched a man take a drill to it, the alien screamed “Hold on, where’s the Doctor?” She knew that Van Statten was going to show the Time Lord his ‘pets’ but the man wasn’t there.

“I don't know”, Adam said.

“Take me down there now”, Rose demanded before turning and striding out of the room.

~Lift~

After what had happened with the Dalek, Van Statten had refused to show him the other alien which had made the Doctor angry somewhat. From his conversation with the Dalek, he’d learned that it wasn’t the one who’d sent out the SOS that the TARDIS had picked up. Which meant that it was the other alien Van Statten had prisoner. Someone or something still needed his help and Van Statten was stopping him! He’d have to get back down to that level as soon as he could.

“What can you tell me about this Dalek”, Van Statten said breaking the Doctor out of his thoughts.

“The metal's just battle armour”, the Doctor explained “The real Dalek creature's inside”.

“What does it look like?” Van Statten asked.

“A nightmare. It's a mutation. The Dalek race was genetically engineered. Every single emotion was removed except hate”

“Genetically engineered….” Van Statten repeated, actually impressed “By whom?”

“By a genius, Van Statten”, the Doctor replied, glaring at him “By a man who was king of his own little world. You'd like him”.

“It's been on Earth for over fifty years”, Goddard cut in “both of them. They were sold at private auctions, moving from one collection to another. Why would that one be a threat now?”

“Because I'm here”, the Doctor replied “How did either of them get to Earth? Does anyone know?”

“The records say that the Dalek came from the sky like a meteorite. It fell to Earth on the Ascension Islands. Burnt in its crater for three days before anybody could get near it and all that time it was screaming. It must have gone insane”, Goddard explained.

“It must have fallen through time. The only survivor”, the Doctor muttered “what about the other one?”

“The other one we found half dead by the remains of a crashed ship”, Van Statten lied. Goddard looked at him sharply knowing that wasn’t the case. The American man shot her a look warning her not to say anything. And so the very reluctant ginger stayed quiet. As much as she wanted to tell the Doctor that it was a lie, she didn’t want to have her mind wiped and dumped in a random place to fend for herself.

“You talked about a war?” Goddard asked, changing the subject.

“The Time War. The final battle between my people and the Dalek race”, the Doctor replied trying to ignore the pang in his hearts whenever he thought or spoke about the War.

“But you survived, too”, Van Statten remarked, eyeing him.

“Not by choice”, the Doctor muttered not seeing the look the man was giving him.

“This means that those two aliens aren’t the only ones on Earth. Doctor, there's _you_ ” Van Statten grinned “The only one of your kind in existence”.

\---------------

Lights flash on the in the examination room revealing the Time Lord shirtless and chained up against a rack. Van Statten stands behind an instrument that is pointed at the Doctor. “Now, smile!” Van Statten shouted as the instrument shot some sort of red beam over the Doctor’s torso, scanning him. The Time Lord grimaced, moaning lightly as it scanned him. An image of his rib cage appeared on a wall monitor showing his two hearts beating within it. Van Statten frowned at the image, disappointed. “He’s not so special after all”, he remarked to Goddard “He’s just like the other one”.

At this, the Doctor’s hearts stopped. The other alien was a Time Lord?! How did he not sense it? Then the thought just hit him, yes he had sensed something but it wasn’t that strong. He dreaded to think what Van Statten had done to the Time Lord given how he treated the Dalek. He had to get out!

The Doctor tested the chains gaining Van Statten’s attention “there’s no use trying to get free, you won’t” the American man looked back at the image on the wall “there’s nothing new here I can patent”, he muttered.

“So that's your secret. You don't just collect this stuff, you scavenge it”, the Doctor said angrily.

“This technology has been falling to Earth for centuries”, Van Statten scoffed “All it took was the right mind to use it properly. Oh, the advances I've made from alien junk. You have no idea, Doctor. Broadband? Roswell. Just last year my scientists cultivated bacteria from the Russian crater, and do you know what we found?” the Doctor stayed silent opting to glare at him, his mind going over the possible things this man could’ve done to torture the Time Lord “The cure for the common cold. Kept it strictly within the laboratory of course. No need to get people excited. Why sell one cure when I can sell a thousand palliatives?” the American smiled smugly.

“Do you know what a Dalek is, Van Statten? A Dalek is honest. It does what it was born to do for the survival of its species. That creature in your dungeon is better than you”

“In that case, I will be true to myself and continue”, Van Statten replied, walking back to the scanner.

“What difference would you find if I’m like the other alien?” the Doctor asked.

“Well…I’d say there’s probably a few, given the gender difference”

The Doctor’s eyes widened at that. It wasn’t a Time _Lord…_ it was a Time _Lady_!


	4. Meeting the Last Time Lady

“Listen to me! That thing downstairs is going to kill every last one of us!” the Doctor shouted, fighting harder to get out of his bonds. The Dalek wouldn’t go for him if it got loose, it would go straight for the Time Lady. And he could not let that happen. Aside from the TARDIS, the Time Lady is the only other thing he had left. He will _not_ lose her!

“Nothing can escape the Cage”, Van Statten stated, dismissing the Doctor’s worry. He turned on the scanner again, watching the Doctor writhe in pain.

“But it's woken up!” the Doctor exclaimed “It knows I'm here! It's going to get out. Van Statten, I swear, no one on this base is safe! No one on this planet!”

The American just ignored him and turned the scanner on again.

~The Cage~

“Don't get too close”, Adam warned the blonde as they entered the cage. Rose slowly approached the ‘pet’, the last Dalek. 

“Hello” she said. It didn’t answer her. “Are you in pain? My name's Rose Tyler I've got a friend, he can help. He's called the Doctor. What's your name?”

“Yes”, the Dalek said.

“What?” Rose asked confused. It raised its eye stalk to look at her.

“I am in pain. They torture me, but still… they fear me. Do you fear me?” the Dalek asked.

“No”, Rose replied. She wasn’t afraid, she was more sad to see it in pain. She felt sorry for it.

The Dalek lowers its eye stalk “I am dying”, he said quietly.

“No, we can help!” Rose cried.

“I welcome death. But I am glad… that before I die… I met a human who was not afraid”, the Dalek said. Rose looked at the Dalek sadly, hating the fact that there wasn’t anything she could do.

“Isn’t there anything I can do?” Rose asked.

“My race is dead” the Dalek said quietly “I shall die alone”.

Tears in her eyes, Rose gently placed a hand on the Dalek’s metal dome “Rose, no!” Adam exclaimed but it was too late. The metal under her palm suddenly burned orange casing Rose to quickly snatch he hand back.

“Genetic material extrapolated. Initiate cellular reconstruction!” the Dalek said sounding far more alive. Simmons, the man who’d been torturing the Dalek ran in.

“What the hell have you done?” he demanded. Simmons approached the Dalek who points his sucker at him “Whatcha gonna do?” he asked “sucker me to death?”

Rose cringed as the Dalek proceeded to do just that. She and Adam rushed out of the room. “It's killing him! Do something!” Rose shouted at Bywater, the guard who was just outside.

“Condition red! Condition red!” he called over the intercom and sounded the alarm.

~Freya’s cell~

The Time Lady looked up when she heard the alarm. That could only mean one thing. The Dalek was on the loose.

~Examination Room~

Van Statten, who also heard the alarm, looked up. The Doctor did the same, though he was sweating with pain. “Release me if you want to live”, the Doctor told the American wearily. Van Statten wasted no time in undoing the chains on the Doctor’s wrists.

\------------

The Doctor, now fully dressed, ran out of the lift followed by Van Statten, Goddard and a few guards. The Time Lord turned to the guards “bring the second alien up here” he ordered. The safest place for the Time Lady was right next to him _and_ two Time Lords are better than one when dealing with a Dalek. Though he had no idea what state she’d be in after 50 years imprisonment. The guards looked to Van Statten, who seemed about to argue, so the Doctor turned on the man “trust me, if that Dalek gets out, you’re going to need all the help you can get. There’s no one better than us for dealing with a Dalek!”

Van Statten nodded and a couple of guards ran off.

The Doctor ran over to a monitor mounted on the wall which showed the camera feed of just outside the Cage. “You've got to keep it in that cell”, he ordered.

Having heard his voice, Rose glanced at the small monitor “Doctor, it's all my fault”, she said, he voice full of guilt.

“I've sealed the compartment. It can't get out, that lock's got a billion combinations”, one of the guards informed them.

“A Dalek's a genius. It can calculate a thousand billion combinations in one second flat”, the Doctor countered. Sure enough the door to the Cage opened mere moments later.

“Open fire!” Bywater ordered. He and the soldiers shot at the Dalek.

“Don't shoot it! I want it unharmed!” Van Statten shouted seeing all this on the monitor.

“Rose, get out of there!” the Doctor called to his companion but the blonde just stood there.

The Dalek advanced on the group, the bullets doing nothing to slow it down. Bywater turns to the female guard who was standing next to them. “De Maggio, take the civilians and get them out alive. That is your job, got that?”

The woman nodded “You, with me”, she ordered to Rose and Adam before turning and hurrying away. The pair follow after her.

The Dalek glided up to the monitor near to the Cage and smashed it, absorbing the electricity. The alien wails as its damaged outer casing slowly bends back into shape, thanks to the electricity now coursing through it. The rust fades away, bringing the Dalek back to its former glory.

“Abandoning the Cage, sir”, Bywater said into his mouthpiece.

~Office~

“We're losing power. It's draining the base”, Goddard reported as she tapped away on a keyboard, the Doctor and Van Statten watching over her shoulder “Oh, my God. It's draining entire power supplies for the whole of Utah”

“It's downloading”, the Doctor stated casting a glance at the door. Those guards that had left to get the Time Lady were taking far too long for his liking.

“Downloading what?” Van Statten asked.

“Sir, the entire West Coast has gone down”, Goddard said looking at the computer screen worriedly.

“It's not just energy”, the Doctor said “That Dalek just absorbed the entire internet. It knows everything”.

“The Daleks survive in me!” they heard the Dalek declare over the audio just before there was a sound of its weapon being fired. Then static.

“The cameras in the vault have gone down”, Goddard said as she tried to check the other feeds.

“We've only got emergency power”, the Doctor stated, trying to ignore how his hearts sped up. With those cameras down they couldn’t see where the Dalek was. And that worried him. He was also concerned about the Time Lady, who still hadn’t turned up. “It's eaten everything else. You've got to kill it now!” he said raising his voice. _Before it can get to the Time Lady_ he added mentally. He would not be the last of his kind. He would not!

“All guards to converge in the Metaltron cage, immediately”, Goddard called into the comm.

\-------------

With De Maggio in the lead, she, Rose and Adam ran past a group of guards that were on their way to the cage. The moment they’d disappeared down the corridor, Bywater rushed up to the guards. “Cover the north wall”, he ordered “Red division, maintain suppressing fire along the perimeter. Blue division…” he broke off and screamed as the Dalek shot him in the back “argh!”

The other guards fire upon it but the bullets melt before they could even touch the armour. The Dalek exterminates another. More guards appear behind it, surrounding the alien, also shooting at it. But even with the extra men, it did no good. All it did was increase the number of casualties as the Dalek killed them one by one.

~Office~

“Tell them to stop shooting at it!” Van Statten shouted at Goddard hearing the gun shots.

“It's _killing_ them! Goddard argued.

“They're dispensable. That Dalek is unique” Van Statten leaned forward over the comm “I don't want a scratch on its bodywork, do you hear me? Do you hear me?”

The sound of gunshots stop but the three of them realized that it wasn’t due to the guards doing what Van Statten had said. It was because the Dalek had killed them all. Goddard shoots Van Statten a glare before pulling up a map of the base onto the computer to show the Doctor.

“That's us, right below the surface. That's the cage, and that's the Dalek”, she explained indicating to the blue moving blip which was the Dalek.

“This museum of yours. Have you got any alien weapons?” the Doctor asked.

“Lots of them…but the trouble is the Dalek's between us and them”

“We've got to keep that thing alive”, Van Statten stated “We could just seal the entire vault, trap it down there”.

“Leaving everyone trapped with it?” the Doctor rounded “Rose is down there. Most likely the last Time Lady as well. I’m not leaving either of them down there. Have you got that?” Van Statten got up, fully prepared to argue but the Doctor just turned back to the computer. He pointed at a spot on the map “It's got to go through this area. What's that?” he asked.

“Weapons testing”, Goddard replied.

The Doctor opened his mouth to tell her to give whatever guns they had to everyone when the door to the office opened. He looked up and saw two guards half supporting, half dragging someone into the room.

Immediately he went around the desk, making his way towards the trio, his eyes fixed on the Time Lady between the two guards. He couldn’t see her face as it was concealed by a mane dirty, knotted hair. He couldn’t easily tell due to all the dirt but it appeared to be a shade of blonde. He gently took her from the guards and led her over to a chair situated by a wall. The Doctor knelt down and brushed her hair away revealing a pale, thin face. His hearts clenched at the sight. It was clear that she’d barley been fed during the 50 years.

He looked into her brown eyes, seeing the pain within them. The Doctor saw something else in her eyes, a blue ring around both irises. And then he felt it. A pleasant warmth. It started from his hearts and slowly spread out to the rest of his body. Not breaking eye contact, the Time Lord raised a hand and gently placing it on the Time Lady's cheek. His fingers tingled from contact with her skin. Everything seemed to just fade away as he continued to gaze into her eyes. It felt like nothing else mattered to him. Not Rose. Not even the Dalek. All that mattered was HER.

He'd be whatever she needed him to be. A friend...A protector...anything.

Even though he was lost in the moment, a very small part of his mind was actually registering what was happening. The last Time Lady was his soulmate.


	5. Dalek on the loose!

Van Statten eyed the pair of aliens suspiciously. He had no idea what the Doctor was doing with the young woman. He was just kneeling there, staring at her, hand on her cheek. For all he knew the Doctor was talking to her telepathically! And if he wasn’t, staring at the female wasn’t exactly being productive. There’s a Dalek on the loose for Christ sake!

“Doctor, I don’t think staring at her isn’t really at all productive”, the American man spoke up.  

The Time Lord moved his hand away from the Time Lady’s face and looked over at him. His face hardened as he looked at the man. This man held his soulmate captive for years. He hurt her…tortured her. He deserved the same in return. The Doctor got up and started to walk towards Van Statten, fully intending to do just that when he was stopped by the Time Lady grabbing his sleeve. “ _Da-lek_ ”, she said clumsily in Gallifreyan.

The Doctor looked down at her and nodded. She was right. The Dalek _was_ more important right now as it was currently on the loose and a threat to everyone, including his soulmate. So he’ll focus his attention on stopping it but as soon as that was done, he was going to show Van Statten why some races call him the Oncoming Storm.

He turned to Goddard “right, you…uh what’s your name?” he asked.

“Diana Goddard”, Goddard replied.

“Diana Goddard”, the Doctor repeated “I need you to give any all guns you have to everyone. Technicians…lawyers…everyone. Only then have you got a chance of killing the Dalek”.

~Staircase~

“Stairs! That's more like it. It hasn't got legs. It's stuck!” Rose said happily when they reached a set of stairs.

“It's coming! Get up!” De Maggio shouted at them. They hurried up a flight and looked down at the Dalek.

“Great big alien death machine defeated by a flight of stairs”, Adam mocked looking down at the metal alien. De Maggio demanded that it surrendered but the Dalek didn’t listen instead it said “Elevate”

Rose’s eyes widened as the alien began to glide up the stairs towards them “Oh my god”, she breathed. She had not excepted that at all.

“Adam, get her out of here”, De Maggio ordered.

“Come with us. You can't stop it”, Rose said to her painfully recalling all those people who died trying to stop the alien when it escaped the room it had been confined in. And it was all her fault. If she hadn’t touched the damn thing, none of this would’ve happened.

“Someone's got to try. Now get out! Don't look back. Just run”, De Maggio ordered. Rose and Adam raced up the rest stairs. When they reached a corridor, they all heard the sound of a weapon firing and a scream.

~Office~

“I thought you were the great expert, Doctor”, Van Statten sneered as the Time Lord was checking on the Time Lady again “and I thought _she_ was supposed to help you. You said two Time Lords were better than one. I don’t see _her_ doing anything to help” the American man. 

“And who’s fault is that?” the Doctor snapped giving the man a glare. He was trying to keep calm so he could focus on the situation at hand but if the human continued with his comments he might actually throttle him sooner rather than later.

“If you're so impressive, then why not just reason with this Dalek? It must be willing to negotiate. There must be something it needs. Everything needs something”

“What's the nearest town?” the Doctor asked.

“Salt Lake City”, Van Statten replied little surprised by his change of subject.

“Population?” the Doctor questioned. 

“One million”, the annoying human answered.

“ _De-ad…_ ” the Time Lady said quietly.

“What are you saying?” Van Statten demanded. This was the second time she’d spoken and both times it was in that strange language.

“She said everyone in that city would be dead if the Dalek got out”, the Doctor replied, not liking the way he was speaking to the Time Lady.

“But why would it do that?” Van Statten asked cried. 

“Because it honestly believes they should die”, the Doctor replied “Human beings are different, and anything different is wrong. It's the ultimate in racial cleansing and you, Van Statten, you've let it loose!”

He felt the Time Lady stiffen at those words. The Doctor turned to her, his face softening seeing the fear in her eyes. “Its not to get anywhere near you, I promise”, he assured her. That Dalek would have to go through him first to get a shot at the Time Lady. And that wasn’t going to happen. Not ever. The woman gave him a small smile.

The Doctor returned it and gave her hand a gentle squeeze before he headed over to the computer to speak to everyone in the loading bay via the comm. According to the map of the base that was where the Dalek was heading to “The Dalek's surrounded by a force field. The bullets are melting before they even hit home, but it's not indestructible. If you concentrate your fire, you might get through. Aim for the dome, the head, the eyepiece. That's the weak spot”, he explained.

“Thank you, Doctor, but I think I know how to fight one single tin robot” the commander scoffed “Positions!”

The man gave the signal and the soldiers readied their guns. But what came into the loading was not the Dalek but Rose and Adam. “You two, get the hell out of there!” he shouted at the pair. Rose and Adam ran past them and out of a doorway at the other end of the loading bay as the Dalek appeared on the opposite side.

The Commander ordered his men to fire upon the Dalek but once again the bullets were simply melting before they struck their target.

Up in the office, the camera feed for the loading bay suddenly popped up on the computer screen. “We've got visual”, Goddard said with slight confusion on her face. Why did the camera feed pop up on the computer all of a sudden?

“It wants us to see”, the Doctor stated. They watch as the Dalek rose up into the air and blasted the fire alarm, causing the sprinklers to the set off. It then fires downward at the now water covered concrete floor, electrocuting everybody. 

“Fall back! Fall back!” the Commander shouted before he too was killed.

~Office~

Heavy silence fell over the office as the last person was killed. The Doctor stared at the screen, his fists clenched. Van Statten should’ve let him kill it when he had the chance. But he didn’t and now even more people were dead.  “Perhaps it's time for a new strategy. Maybe we should consider abandoning this place”, Van Statten muttered, finally conceding to the fact that they _should_ leave.

“Except there's no power to the helipad, sir. We can't get out”, Goddard reminded him angrily.

“You said we could seal the vault”, the Doctor said.

“It was designed to be a bunker in the event of nuclear war” Van Statten said, heading to the computer “Steel bulkheads…”

“There's not enough power, those bulkheads are massive”, Goddard pointed out.

“We've got emergency power. We can re-route that to the bulkhead doors”, the Doctor said.

“We'd have to bypass the security codes” Goddard sighed “That would take a computer genius”.

“Good thing you've got me, then”, Van Statten replied.

The Doctor looked at him thoroughly surprised “ _You_ want to help?” he scoffed. All this time he’d been so adamant about keeping the damn Dalek alive, _now_ he wants to help trap it?

“I don't want to die, Doctor. Simple as that. And nobody knows this software better than me”

A screen on the wall suddenly flashed on, the Dalek standing in the middle of the loading bay.

“Sir…” Goddard called, noticing this first. The Doctor and Van Statten looked up from the computer. The Time Lord straightened up, glanced at Goddard before gesturing to the Time Lady. The ginger gave a minute nod and moved to stand in front of her, concealing her from the Dalek’s view.

“I shall speak only to the Doctor”, the metal alien stated.

“You're going to get rusty”, the Doctor commented.

“I fed off the DNA of Rose Tyler. Extrapolating the biomass of a time traveller regenerated me”, the Dalek explained.

“What's your next trick?” the Doctor asked.

“I have been searching for the Daleks”

“Yeah, I saw” the Doctor rolled his eyes “downloading the internet. What did you find?”

“I scanned your satellites and radio telescopes…”

“And?” the Doctor asked waiting for its point.

“Nothing”, it stated “Where shall I get my orders now?” it asked, its voice rising sounding almost scared.

“You're just a soldier without commands”, the Doctor taunted.

“Then I shall follow the Primary Order, the Dalek instinct to destroy, to conquer!” the Dalek declared.

“What for?” the Doctor asked, exasperated “What's the point?” silence from the Dalek “Don't you see it's all gone? Everything you were, everything you stood for”.

“Then what should I do?”

“All right, then” he nodded slowly “If you want orders, follow this one. Kill yourself”.

“The Daleks must survive!”

“The Daleks have _failed_! Why don't you finish the job and make the Daleks extinct. Rid the Universe of your filth. Why don't you just die?” the Doctor shouted with a passionate hatred.

From where she sat, Freya could _hear_ the anger, the hatred in his voice. She didn’t blame him, she hated them too. They killed so many of their people…ruined so many lives.

“You would make a good Dalek”, the Dalek stated before the screen went blank.

Freya slowly stood up as the Doctor stared at the screen, Goddard sending her a concerned look which she ignored. She made her way over to the Doctor and gently touched his arm. The Time Lord jumped a little, having not expected it. He glanced at her. “ _No. Da-lek wro-ng_ ”, she said giving him the smallest of smiles. The Doctor’s hearts warmed at that. At least his soulmate didn’t think he’d make a good Dalek.

He turned to Van Statten. “Seal the Vault”, he ordered.


	6. A changing Dalek

~Staircase~

Rose phone rang as she and Adam ran up another set of stairs. “This isn't the best time”, she said answering it.

“Where are you?” the Doctor asked.

“Level 49”, Rose replied.

“You've got to keep moving. The vault's being sealed off up at level forty six”, he said.

“Can't you stop them closing?” Rose asked.

“I'm the one who's closing them. I can't wait and I can't help you. Now for God's sake, run”, the Doctor said. Rose relayed the information to Adam and they ran faster. The moment pair reached level 46 a klaxon sounded.

“Come on!” Adam shouted seeing the bulkhead start to lower. The British boy pushed himself to go faster and managed to roll under the door with only several inches to spare. Rose on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky.

She stood facing the bulkhead, panting from the run. “Rose, where are you?” the Doctor asked through her phone “Rose, did you make it?”

“Sorry, I was a bit slow”, Rose replied.

~Office~

Freya watched as a horrible shock spread across the Doctor’s face at that answer.

~level 46~

Rose glanced behind her to see the Dalek round the corner. She looked away from it, taking several breaths to keep her composure while she said “See you, then, Doctor”.

~Office~

The Doctor stood there, not saying a word as he was too horrified. He made promised Rose that he’d protect her, he’d keep her safe to the best of his ability while she travelled with him. And he failed.

~Level 46~

“It wasn’t your fault”, Rose continued her voice trembling with fear of her imminent death “Remember that, okay? It wasn't your fault. And do you know what?” she took a shaky breath “I wouldn't have missed it for the world”.

Rose lowered her phone from her ear and turned to face the Dalek.

~Office~

“Exterminate!”

The Doctor yanked the earpiece out of his ear after he’d heard the sound of the Dalek’s weapon being fired. “I killed her”, he said quietly. Freya put a hand on his arm, seeing how devastated he was. This Rose girl must’ve meant a lot to him.

“ _No_ ”, she said making him look at her “ _Da-lek di-d it_ ”.

The Doctor placed a hand over hers, thankful for the small amount of comfort her touch provided at that moment. She was right of course. He didn’t kill her himself but he might’ve well have done considering it was his decision to close the bulkhead doors.

“I'm sorry”, Van Statten said, his voice full of regret.

The Doctor turned to him, moving Freya’s hand from his arm. “I said I'd protect her. She was only here because of me, and you're _sorry_? I could've killed that Dalek in it's cell, but you stopped me”, he said glaring at the man.

“It was the prize of my collection!” Van Statten cried “ _She_ could’ve been if she spoke more” he pointed at the Time Lady.

The Doctor moved in front of Freya at those words. “She isn’t part of your collection anymore”, he said in an almost growl “when this is over, I’m taking her with me”.

“But you can’t…” Van Statten started to protest.

The Doctor’s glare deepened, he was very close to the Oncoming Storm. “ _Yes_ I CAN. She is the last of my people so she is coming with me. I _dare_ you to try and stop me”.

Van Statten didn’t retort. Freya could see when she peeked out from behind the Doctor, that the man was almost afraid of the Time Lord. She didn’t blame him. The fury of a Time Lord is something you never want to be on the receiving end of, male or female. Though it was known that the fury of a Time Lord tended to be far worse compared to the fury of a Time Lady.

“So let me ask you a question Van Statten. Is this really all worth it? Worth the lives of those men? Worth Rose?” the Doctor questioned “because its NOT. Mankind goes into space to explore, to be part of something greater”.

“Exactly! I wanted to touch the stars!” Van Statten exclaimed.

“You just want to drag the stars down and stick them underground, underneath tons of sand and dirt, and label them”, the Doctor spat “You're about as far from the stars as you can get. And you took her down with you!”

The Time Lord turned away, his expression changing from furious to grief-stricken “She was nineteen years old”, he added quietly. Freya’s hearts broke seeing the look on his face. She stepped up to the Doctor and hugged him. The Time Lord was stunned at the move for a brief moment before he put his arms around her, hugging her tightly but carefully.

~Level 46~

Rose opened her eyes cautiously and looked around. She was surprised that she was still alive. “Go on then, kill me”, she said to the Dalek. The teen was met with silence from the alien “Why're you doing this?” she demanded.

“I am armed. I will kill. It is my purpose”, the Dalek said.

“They’re all dead because of you!” Rose cried, her body trembling.

“They’re all dead because of us”, the Dalek corrected her.

“And now what?” Rose demanded “what are you waiting for?”

“I feel your fear”, the Dalek said.

“Well what did you expect?!” the blonde asked almost hysterically.

“You gave me life. What else have you given me?” the Dalek asked growing hysterical as well, almost bordering on scared “I am contaminated!” It fired wildly, hitting the wall either side of her causing the girl to flinch at the closeness of each shot.

\----------------

When Adam stepped out of the lift into Van Statten’s office, the Doctor rounds on him. “You were quick on your feet, leaving Rose behind”, he said angrily.

“I’m not the one who sealed the vault!” Adam said indignantly.

The computer screen springs to life showing Rose standing next to the Dalek. “ _Tha-nk good-ness_ ”, Freya breathed relieved to see that Rose alive.

“Open the bulkhead or Rose Tyler dies”, the Dalek ordered.

“You're alive!” the Doctor exclaimed joy and relief breaking out on his face. She was alive! His companion was alive!

“Can't get rid of me”, Rose said trying to sound cheery.

“I thought you were dead”, the Doctor said.

“Open the bulkhead!” the Dalek ordered again.

“Don't do it!” Rose shouted at him. Freya looked at the Doctor, clasping her hands together,  wondering what he was going to do. Would he listen to Rose? Or would he give in to the Dalek’s demands?

“What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?” The Doctor stared at the screen stunned. That wasn’t a question a Dalek would normally ask. They didn’t understand the concept of love. They were the embodiment of hatred. That’s all they ever knew. Anger…hate… but not love. The Doctor turned to Van Statten who looked at him shocked. Even Freya was surprised by the Dalek’s question.

The Doctor went back to the screen “I killed her once. I can't do it again”, he said. He hit a key and the bulkhead door started to open. The Dalek and Rose go through when the bulkhead was high enough.

“What do we do now, you bleeding heart. What the hell do we do?” Van Statten demanded.

“Kill it when it gets here!” Adam piped up. He knew that he didn’t want to die. So the Dalek had to be destroyed.

“All the guns are useless, and the alien weapons are in the vault”, Goddard reminded him.

“Only the catalogued ones”, Adam told her. Van Statten turned to him, brows raised. Adam just gives him an apologetic look.

~Adam's workshop~

Freya looked around the workshop as the Doctor rifled through a basket of Adam’s un-catalogued weapons. The Time Lord had insisted that he come with her as he didn’t want to leave her alone with Van Statten. Freya didn’t argue with him.

The Doctor picked up a ‘weapon’ “Broken”, he stated chucking it aside. Freya and Adam watched as he picked up another and that was tossed aside too.

“ _That hair-dryer_ ”, Freya said nodding to the item in the Doctor’s hands.

“So it is”, the Doctor agreed “useless”, he said chucking it away.

“Mr Van Statten tends to dispose of his staff, and when he does he wipes their memory”, Adam explained “I kept this stuff in case I needed to fight my way out one day”.

“What, you in a fight?” the Doctor scoffed “I'd like to see that”.

“I could do”, Adam said mildly offended.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. He could hardly see the boy in a fight. “What're you going to do, throw your A-Levels at 'em?” he asked sarcastically. He then picked up a rather large gun “Oh, yes. Lock and load”.

\-------------

Rose stood in the lift next to the Dalek. The atmosphere was rather tense in the enclosed space. It took everything she had not to fidget on the spot. “When we get up there, you can’t kill them”

The Dalek swung its eye stalk around so fast that the blonde had to quickly move as to not get hit. “But why not?” it asked “My function is to kill”.

“You shot at me but didn’t kill me. So you can’t kill them”, Rose said.

“What I am Rose? What am I?” the Dalek demanded.

“I don’t know”, Rose honestly replied.

When the lift doors opened, Van Statten was standing in the office. Alone. “Don't do anything. It's beginning to question itself”, Rose informed him as the Dalek moved towards the man.

“Van Statten. You tortured me. Why?” the Dalek demanded.

Van Statten backed away, clearly terrified of the Dalek “I wanted to help you. I just…I don't know. I was trying to help. I thought if we could get through to you, if we could mend you…I wanted you better, I'm sorry” his back hit a wall “I'm so sorry! I swear, I just wanted you to talk!”

“Then hear me talk now. Exterminate! Exterminate!” the Dalek cried. Van Statten winces “Exterminate!”

Rose rushed over “Don’t do it! Don’t kill him!” she exclaimed. The Dalek spins to face her “You don't have to do this anymore. There must be something else. Not just killing…what else is there? What do you want?”

The Dalek looks at Van Statten then back to Rose. “I want freedom”, the Dalek replied.

The metal alien and Rose got back into the lift and headed Floor One of the museum. While they’re heading upwards in the lift, the Doctor was charging up the stairs clutching the alien gun in his hands desperate to get to his before the Dalek decided it didn’t need her anymore. Freya chased after him, trying to keep up as best as she could.

Part way up one of the flights, Freya stopped as she was feeling rather light headed. She was also struggling to breathe too. The Doctor who seemed to realise she stopped. “Go”, Freya panted sitting down on the step.

The Doctor hesitated. He didn’t want to leave her there. “I don’t…”

“ _Ple-ase_ ”, she whispered “ _Stop Dal-ek_ ”.

The Doctor nodded “I’ll be back soon”, he promised and continued on his way up the stairs.

~Floor One~

The Dalek stopped in the middle of floor 1 and blasted a hole in the ceiling, allowing light to filter in. “You're out. You made it”, Rose said. She looked up at the hole and smiled “I never thought I'd feel the sunlight again”.

“How… does… it… feel?” the Dalek asked. Rose was going to reply when the casing of the Dalek opened to reveal a one eyed mutant. The blonde watched it hold out one of its feelers toward the sunlight. She gazed at it until a voice behind them made her jump.

“Get out of the way”

Rose turned and saw the Doctor standing there holding a large gun.

“Rose! Get out of the way now!” the Doctor shouted.

“No”, Rose said not moving “I won't let you do this”.

“That thing killed hundreds of people!”

“It's not the one pointing the gun at us”, Rose retorted.

“I've got to do this. I've got to end it. The Daleks destroyed my home, my people. I've got nothing left!” the Doctor said. _Apart from the Time Lady_ he mentally added. Of course he wasn’t going to mention it.

Rose moved to the side “Look at it”, she said.

“What's it doing?” the Doctor asked confused.

“It's the sunlight, that's all it wants”, Rose said.

“But it can't”, the Doctor said his voice shaking.

“It couldn't kill Van Statten, it couldn't kill me. It's changing. What about you, Doctor? What the hell are you changing into?” Rose demanded.

The Doctor lowered the gun looking completely lost. “I couldn’t…” both Rose and Freya stared at him as he started to tear up “I wasn’t…” he looked at the Dalek then back at the blonde “oh Rose,  They’re all dead”.

“Why do we survive?” the Dalek asked.

“I don't know”, the Doctor replied.

“I am the last of the Daleks”, the Dalek said, speech becoming more of an effort now.

“You're not even that. Rose did more than regenerate you. You've absorbed her DNA. You're mutating”

“Into what?” the Dalek managed to say.

“Something new. I'm sorry”, the Doctor said apologetically.

“Isn't that better?” Rose asked.

“Not for a Dalek”, the Doctor said. 

“I can feel so many ideas. So much darkness...Rose, give me orders...Order me to die”

“I can't do that”, Rose said shaking her head.

“This is not life. This is sickness. I shall not be like you. Order my destruction! Obey! Obey! Obey!”

After a moment Rose spoke “Do it”

“Are you frightened, Rose Tyler?” the Dalek asked.

“Yeah”, Rose replied. 

“So am I” the Dalek said feebly “Exterminate”. 

Rose stumbled back and goes to the Doctor’s side as the Dalek replaces its armour. It levitates in the air and the golden spheres on its casing detaches. They create a prefect sphere around the Dalek. The alien glows briefly and then explodes inside the sphere, vanishing into nothing.

The Doctor stared at the spot where the Dalek had been for a moment before turning to Rose “Go back to the TARDIS, I’ll be there in a moment”, he said.

“Where are you going?” Rose called after him as he hurried out of the room.

“There’s something I need to do”, the Doctor called back not bothering the glance back at her.

~staircase~

The Time Lord found the Time Lady exactly where he’d left her, sitting on the stairs. “ _You stop…?_ ” she asked as he helped her up.

“Sort of. It destroyed itself”, the Doctor replied. Freya looked at him surprised. She hadn’t seen that coming. Daleks weren’t one for suicide. Then again they weren’t the type of aliens who even understand the concept of love either.

“ _That new_ ”, she murmured swaying slightly. Seeing that she wasn’t going to be able to stand for much longer, the Doctor gathered her up in his arms. The Time Lady’s eyes closed and her head rolled, resting against his chest. He turned and carefully made his way downstairs, heading for the TARDIS.

~Exhibit Room~

Rose stepped away from the TARDIS when she saw the Doctor approaching. Her eyes widened when she saw that there was a young woman in his arms. If she had to guess by the garments the woman was wearing and the state she was in, that she was the second alien that Van Statten had prisoner. Adam did say that the second alien did look like a human and well…the young woman did look very much like one.

“Doctor who is that?” she asked eyeing the woman.

“She was the other alien Van Statten had”, the Doctor replied looking down at the unconscious woman.

“And…what is she?” Rose asked noting the way the Doctor was looking at the female alien. There was a softness in his look as if the female alien was someone he cared about.

“She’s like me”, the Doctor replied not taking his gaze away from the Time Lady in his arms.

“So she’s a Time Lord?” Rose asked with a frown “I thought _you_ were the last of your kind”

The Doctor looked up at her “I thought I was”, he said “but I’m not” he looked down at the Time Lady “I’m not alone anymore”.

 Rose stood there unsure how to react to that. She should be happy that he actually found another of his people, that he wasn’t the last of his kind anymore. But what did it mean for her? Would the Doctor send her home now that he had a Time Lady to keep him company? She really hoped he wouldn’t. She honestly couldn’t imagine going back to a normal life. She loved travelling with the Doctor too much.

Adam jogs up to them. “We'd better get out. Van Statten's disappeared….they’re going to close this place down” the Doctor turned to him “Goddard says they're going to fill it full of cement, like it never existed”.

“About time”, Rose remarked.

“I'll have to go back home”, Adam said.

“Better hurry up then. Next flight to Heathrow leaves at 15000 hours”, the Doctor told him. 

“Adam was saying that all his life he wanted to see the stars…” Rose hinted. 

“Tell him to go outside, then”, the Doctor said with slight sarcasm. He didn’t really have time for this, he had a Time Lady to take care of. That, to him was far more important than chatting.

“He’s all on his own Doctor. And he did help”, Rose said.

“He left you down there!” the Doctor argued.

“So did you!” Rose retorted.

“What're you talking about? We've got to leave”, Adam said confused as to why they weren’t going.

“He's a bit pretty”, the Doctor told Rose.

“I hadn't noticed”, Rose said innocently.

“On your own head”, the Doctor said. He turned to the TARDIS, whose doors swung open automatically allowing him entrance with the Time Lady. He stepped inside, making a beeline for the med bay.

“What're you doing? She said cement. She wasn't joking. We're going to get sealed in”, Adam said. Rose entered the TARDIS too, ignoring him. “What're you guys doing standing inside a box?” he questioned but nobody answered him “Rose?”

Adam peered through the doors and steps inside.


	7. After the museum

The Doctor gently laid the Time Lady onto the hospital bed and got out his sonic screwdriver. The instrument whirred away as he ran it along the length of her body, scanning her. The results from the sonic earn a worried look from the Time Lord. He could see she was malnourished but he didn't know how bad it was until he scanner her. She was dehydrated too which was part of the reason she'd passed out. His grip tightened on the sonic screwdriver as his anger rose as he thought about how those humans had mistreated her…for years. But none of that really mattered. She was with him now…she was safe. That was how she was going to stay, safe and protected. He was going to make sure of that. It was his duty after all being her soulmate.  
  
The Doctor tucked the sonic away in his pocket and got started on setting up an IV drip. It was the quickest and easiest way to get her rehydrated and to put some much needed nutrients back into her body. He popped the bag onto the stand nearby, dragging it over to place it beside the hospital bed. The Doctor then carefully pushed up the dirty white sleeve of her shirt in order to insert the needle into the vein in the crook of her elbow… but he stopped and stared at the exposed arm. There were faint traces of scars on her skin. He set the arm down and pushed her other sleeve up, exposing similar ones on the other arm. The Doctor's hearts clenched seeing those. "What did they do to you?" he breathed touching one of the scars lightly. He quickly pulled the sleeve back down and turned to the other arm, focusing on inserting the needle properly into her vein… pretending those scars weren't there. It was better that way because if he thought about the scars, he might mess up what he was doing.  
  
Once he'd put the needle into her arm, the Doctor set the IV going and then settled into a chair, preparing himself for what could be potentially a long wait.  
  
Seconds ticked by…  
  
Then into minutes…  
  
Minutes became hours…  
  
By the third hour the Doctor was getting restless. But he daren't leave the med bay. What if she woke up and he wasn't there? She would in likely hood panic. He didn't want that to happen so he stayed.  
  
It was only when it was approaching the fourth hour…and by this time the Doctor had started mentally reciting random facts to keep himself occupied…when the Time Lady started to stir. Immediately he stopped thinking about the latest random fact…about Bananas of all things…and focused on the Time Lady. He got out of his chair and placed a hand of her arm when she started to move, looking rather panicked.  
  
"Its ok you're safe here", he assured her.  
  
" _Whe-re…whe-re am I?_ "   
  
"You're in my TARDIS", the Doctor replied moving her pillows so she could sit up slightly. The Time Lady blinked, a look of surprise on her face.  
  
" _TAR-DIS_ ", she repeated slowly " _you…ha-ve TAR-DIS_ ".  
  
"Yep. Best ship in the universe", the Doctor said proudly "in my opinion".

“ _Agreed_ ”, the Time Lady said.   
  
The Doctor smiled, rather happy that she had the same opinion as him on the TARDIS. "What's your name?" he asked. That was probably the most important question for him to ask. The name of his soulmate.  
  
" _Freya_ ", the Time Lady replied before she coughed.   
  
Freya. His soulmate was called Freya. He liked it. "Freya", the Doctor repeated "that's a lovely name".  
  
Freya cracked a small smile " _Tha-nk you_ ", she managed to say before coughing again. The Doctor quickly went over to the small sink in the far corner of the room and filled up a disposable cup with water. Freya took several big sips from the cup the moment he handed it over to her. " _Sorry…_ " she said apologetically " _not spoke…_ " she coughed again and took another sip of water “ _For while_ ".

Now it made sense why she’d been speaking in Gallifreyan this whole time and why her speech was clumsy. The Doctor’s jaw clenched in anger at the thought of her suffering in silence all those years. It made him wonder was it her choice to stay quiet? Or was she made to be her captives? But he didn't want to ask her about it though as he didn't want to cause her anymore pain. Having said that, there was something he needed to know….was Van Statten telling the truth about how she ended up on Earth.

“Freya...Van Statten told me you ended up on Earth with the Dalek", Doctor said carefully.

“ _He lie_ ”, Freya said “ _I to-ld…_ ” she trailed off as she couldn't seem to form the words. Freya swallowed and tried again “ _to-ld…_ ”  

“Why don't you tell me when you feel up to it?” the Doctor suggested seeing that she was struggling to tell him what really happened.

Freya nodded, glad he wasn't pushing the issue “ _Ok_ ", she quietly. She then yawned which she tried to suppress but was unable to.

“Get some rest", the Doctor said and the Time Lady nodded again. He moved her pillows so that she could lay down fully.

“ _St-ay_ ”, Freya said, her eyes slowly closing.

“Of course”, the Doctor said, sitting back down in the chair again.

“ _Tha-nk you_ ", Freya murmured, her eyes now completely closed. The Doctor sat there watching his Soulmate. He hated the fact that she's been through 50 nightmare years as a prisoner of _humans._ He hated the fact that she was suffering. But there was something he could do about it, make sure she never suffers like that again. _No one is going to hurt you Freya, not while I'm alive_ he vowed. He was going to keep that promise, no matter what it took.

He looked over at the door when it opened and Rose stepped in. “How is she?” the blonde asked nodding toward the Time Lady.

“As well as can be", the Doctor replied turning his attention back to Freya.

“And...who is she?” Rose asked carefully.

“Her name is Freya", the Doctor answered.  

“Freya", Rose repeated.

“Something wrong with that?” the Doctor asked glancing at her, fully prepared to defend his Soulmate’s chosen name.

“No, not at all", Rose said quickly “it's just that…it's so normal. Unlike yours”. The Doctor was pleased that she didn’t say anything bad about the name his Soulmate chose. “So, what’s going to happen now? Are you gonna drop her off somewhere when she’s better?”

“Aside from me, Freya is the only other of my kind”, the Doctor said getting a little angry at his companion for assuming he was going to, as she put it ‘drop her off’ the second she was better. There was _no_ way he was dropping her off anywhere. Freya was his Soulmate so she was staying put. And if Rose didn’t like it, tough. Rose was going to have to learn to accept the fact the Freya wasn’t going anywhere or he would take _her_ back home. “So, she’s staying put even. This is where she belongs” the Doctor gave Rose a look just daring her to argue with his decision.

Rose put her hands up, in an ‘I surrender’ gesture “Ok, she stays”, she said. She didn’t mean to upset the Doctor, she thought it was a valid question. Yes, Freya was the only other of his kind but that didn’t necessary mean that she would stay once she was better. For all she knew, the Time Lady might have a TARDIS of her own gathering dust somewhere and wants to head off, exploring the universe on her own…maybe even find a companion along the way…

The Doctor gave her a curt nod and turned his attention back to the sleeping Time Lady. Getting the sense that the conversation was over, Rose left the med bay.


	8. Adam's curiosity

When Freya woke for the second time, she discovered that she was alone. She would’ve panicked if it wasn’t the folded up piece of paper with her name on it which was placed on top of a pile of clothes, sitting on the chair the Doctor once occupied. Freya picked up the paper and unfolded it.

_Freya_

_I’ve taken Rose and Adam on a quick trip to keep them occupied while you were resting._

_Feel free to explore the TARDIS but only if you’re feeling up to it._

_I’ll be back soon._

_Doctor_

Freya set down the note and picked up the clothes from the chair. There was a pair of ¾ length tan trousers with a cream shirt that thankfully had long sleeves. Last thing she wanted was her scars to be on show. Granted they were practically non-existent but she knew that they were there. The Doctor had also provided some tan tennis shoes as well. A hair band was also in amongst the clothes that was left. Freya carefully removed the needle from her arm, making sure not to look at it as she did so as she was very averse to needles thanks to her 50 years imprisonment.

She then stood up slowly, quickly supporting herself with the bed when she wobbled. Once she felt stable enough on two feet, she let go of the bed and changed into the clothes the Doctor had left. Freya sat back down on the bed and pulled on the tennis shoes which like the clothes seemed to fit her just fine. She glanced down at herself and smiled. She honestly didn’t think she’d feel so relieved to be out of those horrible garments she was forced to wear for 5 decades. Freya lifted a hand to her hair and cringed. It felt awful. She knew it could do with a good long wash. Heck she could do with a very long shower or a relaxing bath herself. _Think that’ll be the first thing I look for_ she thought as she very quickly twisted her hair into a loose braid.

Freya pushed herself to her feet and made her way out of the med bay. “ _Which way?_ ” she murmured. As if the ship had heard her…which in all likelihood it had, given that it _was_ sentient…lights lit up along the floor. The Time Lady touched the wall, feeling a slight vibration under her fingers “ _thank you_ ”, she said and slowly followed the lights, keeping one hand on the wall for support.

The trail of lights took her through a number of turns before it stopped at the entrance way to the console room. Freya stepped inside, her eyes widening at what she saw. The room circular in shape with a domed ceiling. The structural supports weren’t ordinary pillars or some such boring geometrical shape. No, they looked rather a lot like coral the way they branched out.

In the centre on the room was the console itself. Freya approached, slowly circling it, taking in every little detail. It appeared to have been cobbled together with various bits and pieces making it look very homemade. Freya smiled, she liked it. This was one of the reasons she loved TARDISes so much. No two TARDISes were the same. They were all unique. They all had their own little quirks…their own little personalities which is what sets them apart from a standard ship.

The ship itself was overjoyed to see her thief’s soulmate standing in the console room with a smile on her face. She’d been very worried about the Time Lady especially when she was first brought in, she was unconscious.

Freya looked up from the controls when she heard a beep coming from the scanner which was across the console. She moved around to it and saw Rose and Adam on it. She watched as they talked very briefly and then Rose handed something over to Adam. Freya leaned forward, squinting at the item Adam now held in his hand. Her brown eyes widened when she saw what it was. “ _She didn’t_ ”, the Time Lady breathed. As if confirming what she’d just seen, the TARDIS gave out an unhappy hum. Freya glanced up at the translucent column. “ _I get it back_ ” she said, her eyes flickering back to the scanner “ _promise_ ”. A message in Gallifreyan popped up on the screen. “ _I will be_ ”, the Time Lady promised reading the message.  The TARDIS had basically told her to be careful.

She looked at the doors, situated at the bottom of the ramp. Freya took a deep breath, gathering her courage and started for the ramp. She reached out and grasped the handrail, feeling the cool metal beneath her hand. Using it a support, Freya carefully made her way down the ramp to the double doors. She took another breath, took hold of the handle and pulled open the door. She then stepped out of the TARDIS.

The first thing that hit her when she exited the box was the heat. It wasn’t overly hot by Time Lord standards, their bodies were able to withstand temperatures that some other lifeforms such as humans could not. However, she could tell that it was warmer than deemed necessary especially somewhere like this.

Freya had barely taken a step forward when she heard someone approach. The Time Lady slipped around the side of the TARIDS and watched Adam come into view. He didn’t go into the blue box, instead he walked through an open gate. Freya quietly followed after him.

She stood in the doorway of what appeared to be an Observation Deck. Normally she’d want to get a look at the view but keeping an eye on Adam was more important. She had to make sure the human didn’t get into trouble or cause trouble in anyway.

Adam walked up to a computer and places his hand on the pad. “Give me access…” he instructed and the computer screen sprung to life. The boy snatched his hand away “I can learn anything”, he stated.  From the doorway, Freya frowned _what in the universe are you up to?_ She thought.

The human put his hand back on the pad. “Lets try…uh, computers”, Adam suggested, seemingly unsure “Uh…from the twenty first century to the present date, give me the history of the microprocessor”. His facial expression turns to one of amazement as information started to stream into him. “Oh my God”, Adam breathed.

The Time Lady quietly observed as Adam rung his parents and relayed the information that he was learning through the computer. She knew what he was doing was wrong. One second of that message could change the course of history! And time was a delicate thing. She knew that much.

But she didn’t want to intervene just yet. She wanted to observe him some more, make sure he wasn’t going to do something else equally stupid…or worse.

“No, no, no, no, no!” Adam suddenly protested and Freya wondered what it was that he was seeing on the screen that was making him so upset for. _Maybe the computer kicked him out for being sneaky_ she thought _serves him right_ “What're you doing? Come back! Come…” he kicked the base of the computer and Freya had to hold in a snort. He looked rather childish doing that. The Time Lady had to quickly duck out of sight when he glanced in her direction.

Freya stayed around the corner, listening as he continued to protest. “Why are you doing that?” Adam demanded “What's Floor sixteen? What's down there?”

A moment later, the British boy left the Observation Deck, not even noticing that the Time Lady was there. Freya pushed off from the wall and followed after him.


	9. Adam's stupidity

Freya paused when she saw all those people milling about in area that Adam had just entered. she bit her lip as she watched Adam walk past people with ease. She couldn’t just stand there! she had to keep an eye on him! But all those people…. The Time Lady shook her head _focus Freya_! A voice in her head scolded _just keep your eyes on the human. Pretend no one else is there_. Freya nodded, that she could do. She took a breath and entered the new area.

Eyes fixed on Adam, the Time Lady manoeuvred her way past people, tensing slightly when anyone brushed past her. She passed by several screens mounted on the wall which were playing various different clips. Freya paused and quickly backtracked to one particular screen. In the top right corner where the three words.

_Bad Wolf Channel_

She stared at the words, her hearts starting to speed up. She’d seen them once before when she first arrived on Earth. Well…by arrived it was more crash landed on Earth. She’d stumbled out of her ship, hand clutched against her side to stem the flow of blood and there is was right in front of her. It had been spray painted across a sign. A sign which had been decimated when her ship blew up mere moments later.

Freya hadn’t thought much of it until she’d heard the tannoy announce the arrival of ‘Bad Wolf One’, Van Statten’s helicopter. But now it had shown up, again. _What in the universe does it mean?_ She thought. Once, she didn’t think too much of it. Twice, seemed like a heck of a coincidence. Three times? Three times seems far more than a coincidence.

But she couldn’t focus on that right now. Now she had a human to keep an eye on. Freya glanced about but didn’t see him. _Damn it! Why of why did I get distracted?_ She huffed and started her search for the boy. Hopefully she could find him soon, preferably before he got himself into even more trouble. As she searched for the missing boy, the Time Lady unknowingly passed close to the Doctor.

The Time Lord in question paused in his work when he felt the faint presence of the Time Lady in his mind. He glanced behind him, eyes darting from one person to the next. No Time Lady. He shook his head. Why did he think she was even in the vicinity? She was safely back in the TARDIS exploring to her hearts content. His mind must be playing tricks on him. It had been so long since he’d sensed another of his kind…of which happened to be his Soulmate.

“Are you alright Doctor?” Rose asked seeing that the Time Lord was a bit distracted.

“Yeah, I’m fine”, he replied picking up a bundle of wires and continued his work.

The blonde glanced at Cathica who was looking rather anxious. She knew that the black woman didn’t want to anything to do with what they were up to. But despite her protests, Cathica was _still_ hanging around. “You know”, Rose began “If you want to be useful, get them to turn the heating down. It's boiling. What's wrong with this place? Can't they do something about it?”

“I don't know!” Cathica said “We keep asking. Something to do with the turbine”.

“Something to do with the turbine”, the Doctor mocked.

“Well, I don't know!” Cathica almost shouted at him.

“Exactly. I give up on you, Cathica”, the Doctor remarked “Now, Rose. Look at Rose. Rose is asking the right kind of question”.

“Thank you”, the teen said, pleased.

“Why is it so hot?” the Doctor asked.

“One minute you're worried about the Empire and the next it's the central heating!” Cathica exclaimed. She’d had about enough of this Doctor and his friend.

“Well, never underestimate plumbing. Plumbing's very important”, the Doctor informed Cathica before he accidently snapped a bunch of wires causing the black woman to look away exasperated. With a bit more fiddling and a smidge of jiggery pokery, the Doctor managed to bring up the schematics of Satellite 5.

“This is ridiculous”, Cathica scoffed as she looked at the screen “You've got access to the computer's core. You can look at the archive, the news, the stock exchange…and you're looking at pipes?”

“But there's something wrong”, the Doctor pointed out.

“I suppose…”

“Why, what is it?” Rose asked.

“The ventilation system. Cooling ducts, ice filters, all working flat out channelling massive amounts of heat down”, Cathica explained.

“All the way from the top”, the Doctor said.

“Floor 500”, Rose said nodding.

“Something up there is generating tons and tons of heat”, the Doctor stated.

“Well, I don't know about you, but I feel like I'm missing out on a party”, Rose remarked “It's all going on upstairs. Fancy a trip?”

“You can't. You need a key”, Cathica informed them.

“Keys are just codes, and I've got the codes right here” the Doctor gestures to the screen and taps few keys “Here we go. Override 215.9”

“How come it's given _you_ the code?” Cathica asked a little put out that these two strangers had been given the code whereas she’d _never_ gotten it even after applying for three years.

The Doctor glance up at the security camera “Someone up there likes me”, he said.

\-------------

Freya was getting rather fed up. She’d circled the room countless times and still no sign of Adam. _He must’ve gone to floor 16_ she thought. She headed towards the lift determined to find the boy. As she neared, a young black woman stepped inside. Freya quickened her pace but unfortunately she stumbled, falling to her knees. She quickly got up almost falling over again in her haste. She was too late. The doors had already closed.

Freya grumbled under her breath, cursing the fact that she’d fallen. She should’ve been fine. She had been walking for some time and was pretty steady on her feet. Though it seemed she was going to have to practice running so the next time it called for it, she’d be able to do so without falling over.

The Time Lady sighed deciding the best course of action would be to wait for Adam to come back. In all likely hood he was going to as he seemed pretty intent on getting information from that computer. However, she wasn’t going to stand around by the lift. She was going to have a wander to occupy her time and who knows? She might even find the human during her wander. That was if he’d come back without her noticing him.

She’d just almost completed her first little ‘wander’ of the area when she heard a very familiar voice screaming for help. “ _Adam!_ ” she shouted taking off towards the scream. Freya tripped at least 3 times on the way to the source of the sound. She stopped dead in the doorway of the Spike Room, her eyes widening at what she saw. Adam was laying down on some sort of chair…writhing…screaming as a stream going from him into the device just above his head.

Her eyes grew wider when she saw the TARDIS key floating out of his pocket.

~Floor 500~

The Doctor’s eyes widened when he saw Freya suddenly appear on the projection. What was she doing there? she was supposed to be in the TARDIS! He watched as she grabbed hold of the key, struggling to pull it away.

“Who is that?” the Editor demanded wondering who would dare intervene is such a manner.

“She’s no one”, the Doctor replied, his eyes still fixed on the projection. Freya yanked the key away and tossed it.

~floor 139~

The Time Lady turned back to the human boy once she’d thrown away the key. This was going to be the harder part. Getting him out of the chair. Freya grabbed hold of Adam and with three hard tugs, she pulled him off the chair making him land on the floor with a heavy thud.

~floor 500~

The Editor glared at the projection when he saw this. “Seems like your little plan failed”, the Doctor said smugly to the man.

“It’s no matter _Time Lord_. We have enough information and we’ll get retrieve the key soon enough”, the Editor said.

The Doctor scoffed “She’s not gonna let you get the key”, he said nodding to the projection.

“Oh, is that so?” the Editor asked, his glare turning into a smirk when he saw the female collapse “your little friend isn’t going to put up that much of a fight. She’s unconscious”. At those words, the Doctor’s head snapped back to the projection. His hearts clenched seeing that the man was right. His eyes flickered to Adam who also was slumped on the floor. Anger flared through him. It was that human’s fault! His soulmate was in that state because of Adam’s stupidity! _Bloody stupid ape!_ He mentally growled. The Time Lord was going to deal with him, once he’d dealt with the Editor and the Jagrafess.

“Today, we are the headlines. We can rewrite history. We could prevent mankind from ever developing”, the Editor continued still with a smirk. Oh how the Time Lord would love to smack that smirk right off his face!

“And no one's going to stop you because you've bred a human race that doesn't bother to ask questions”, the Doctor said angrily “Stupid little slaves, believing every lie. They'll just trot right into the slaughter house if they're told it's made of gold”.

Cathica, who’d been listening to this for where she had been hiding, nods to herself. She knew exactly what she had to do. She quickly made her way to floor 500’s spike room and without hesitation, she tossed the corpse off the chair. Cathica sat down in the chair “Disengage safety”, she commanded and the walls lit up around her. She ordered the room to override floor 139 “And spike!”

Blue light streamed into her mind. She thought about everything she’d seen and was told. She thought about the hidden truth of Satellite 5. It was working. Icicles on floor 500 were starting to melt. “It's getting hot”, the Doctor commented noticing. The Editor tried to get Suki to terminate Cathica’s access but it wasn’t working.

Suddenly all the screens explode with sparks and the corpses fall to the floor. Rose’s manacles come undone and she quickly searches the Doctor’s jacket pocket for the sonic. “What do I do?” she asked once she had the instrument in her hand.

“Flick the switch!” the Doctor said almost with a sense of urgency. He had to get free! He needed to get to Freya, now! Rose does so and uses it on the Doctor’s manacles. The second the Time Lord was free, he grabbed Rose’s hand and dragged her out of the room. They stopped by floor 500’s Spike Room for Cathica before going back down in the lift to floor 139. The Doctor watched the numbers move, practically bouncing on his feet with impatience.

The second the doors opened, the Doctor shot out, his eyes darting around for the Time Lady. When he spotted her, he dashed over and pulled her into a massive hug. “Are you ok? Are you hurt?” the Doctor asked stepping back slightly checking her over for injuries.

“ _Fine_ ” Freya assured him “ _got…key”_ she took it out of her pocket, holding it out to him.

“Keep it”, the Doctor said.

Freya frowned “ _Rose…key?_ ” she asked confused. If it was Rose’s key, why would the Doctor tell her to keep it? Surely he’d want his companion to have the TARDIS key back.

“Not anymore”, the Doctor replied. The teen didn’t deserve to have the key back, not after giving it to Adam like that. His companion better consider herself lucky that Freya was actually around to stop the Editor from getting his hands on it. The Time Lady popped the key back into her pocket. They then walked back over to Cathica.

“We're just going to go. I hate tidying up. Too many questions. You'll manage”, the Doctor told her. 

“You'll have to stay and explain it. No one's going to believe me”, Cathica said.

“ _They…will_ ”, Freya said.

Cathica looked confused “I’m sorry?” she asked “I don’t understand”.

“She says that they will believe you”, the Doctor translated “And the human race should accelerate. All back to normal”, he added.

“What about your friend?” Cathica asked nodding to Adam.

“He’s not my friend”, the Doctor said not at all happy about what he did.

“Now don’t…” Rose said but he just ignores her, storming straight over to Adam.

“I'm all right now. Much better”, Adam laughed nervously, feeling rather uneasy under the Doctor’s glare “It all worked out for the best, didn't it?”

The Doctor didn’t say a word, he just grabbed Adam by the arm and dragged him back to the TARDIS. “You know, it’s not actually my fault, because you were in charge”, Adam insisted as the Doctor unlocked the door. The Time Lord just shoved the human inside, ignoring him completely.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

~Adam’s house~

The Doctor steers Adam out of the TARDIS once it had touched down in his house. “It’s my house! I’m home! Oh, my god, I’m home!” Adam said. The Time Lord glared at him, he’d been very tempted to throw the boy into a black hole and he could’ve sworn that the TARDIS was in total agreement with him. Lucky for the human, Freya managed to talk him out of it though in doing so had caused her to have a mini coughing fit. Which of course made the Doctor more angry at Adam. If the idiot human hadn’t done something so stupid, Freya wouldn’t have spoken so much making her cough.

“Blimey I thought the TARDIS was going to chuck me out of an airlock”, Adam said a little relieved about that as the ride had been anything but smooth.

 “I was tempted to toss you into a black hole”, the Doctor told him “lucky for you Freya talked me out of it”.

“Thanks Freya”, Adam said grateful that the Time Lady had done so. Freya only offered the boy a weak smile as she didn’t want to risk speaking again, lest she starting coughing once more.

“Is there something else you want to tell us?” the Doctor asked folding his arms.

“No. Um…what do you mean?” Adam asked playing dumb. Freya rolled her eyes and pointed at the telephone where the answering machine had a blinking light, indicating there was a message.

The Doctor went over to the telephone and picks it up “The archive of Satellite 5. One second of that message could've changed the world” he sonics the telephone making it explode. He then walked back to the TARDIS “That's it, then. See ya”

“How do you mean, ‘see ya’?” Adam asked.

“As in ‘goodbye’”, the Doctor elaborated.

“But…what about me? You can't just go. I've got my head. I've got a chip type two. My head opens”, Adam said.

“What, like this?” the Doctor snapped his fingers, opening Adam’s head.

“Don't”, he snapped his fingers, closing his head.

“Don't do what?” the Doctor asked snapping his own fingers.

“Stop it!” Adam said angrily snapping his fingers again to close his head.

“All right now, Doctor, that's enough. Stop it”, Rose said.

“Thank you”, Adam said grateful that he still had Rose on his side. Then the blonde snapped her own fingers. “Oi!” he protested, snapping his fingers again, closing the little door in his head.

Rose sniggered “Sorry, I couldn't resist”

“The whole of history could have changed because of you”, the Doctor said

“I just wanted to help”, Adam said feebly.

“ _You…selfish…_ ”, Freya managed to say before she coughed. The Doctor gave her a concerned look.

“Look, I'm sorry”, Adam said apologetically, thinking the Time Lady was laying into him as well due to the fact he couldn’t understand a word she said “I am, I really am, but you can't just leave me like this”.

“Yes I can”, the Doctor shot back “’Cause if you show that head to anyone, they'll dissect you in seconds. You'll have to live a very quiet life. Keep out of trouble. Be average, unseen. Good luck” the Doctor opened the TARDIS door.

“But I want to come with you!”

“I only take the best. I've got Rose and Freya”, the Doctor said.

Suddenly Adam’s mother came through the front door sending Adam into a panic “Rose…take me with you”, he pleaded in a last attempt. Rose just looked at him and went into the TARDIS without saying anything.


	10. Picking an outfit

The Doctor immediately took Freya to the kitchen to get her a cup of tea to help her sore throat. “ _Thank…you_ ”, the Time Lady managed to say before she coughed. She took a couple of sips of tea, humming in relief as she could feel the warm liquid soothe her throat. “ _Food…please? Hungry_ ”, the Time Lady asked.

“Of course”, the Doctor said practically jumping to his feet “how about some soup?” he suggested “it’ll be easier on your throat”.

“ _Sound good_ ”, Freya replied and so the Doctor got to work. While he was making the soup, Rose entered the kitchen.

“Hey Freya. How are you…um…doing?” Rose asked taking a seat at the table.

“ _Fine_ ”, Freya replied.

“Sorry, I don’t understand”, Rose said. The language that Freya was speaking was for some reason not translated by the TARDIS. Which was strange because the Doctor told her that the TARDIS translated all the languages into English.

“I am fine”, Freya repeated, speaking slowly as to not make mistakes with her words. She still wasn’t used to speaking English all that much.

“Good. Look I’m sorry for what happened”, Rose said apologetically. She felt really guilty for the Time Lady collapsing. She was the one who’d given Adam the key after all _and_ she left him alone, instead of sticking with him. “I felt sorry for Adam. I thought he was overwhelmed as it was his first trip. I never thought that he would do what he did”.

“It is ok”, Freya said “you not psychic Rose”. She coughed and took another sip of her tea.

“She’s right. You might not have known what he was going to do”, the Doctor agreed coming over with a bowl of soup. He set it down on the table and sat next to Freya “but it was still a stupid move to give him the key so you’ve lost the right to have one”, he said giving the blonde teen a stern look.

“ _She earn it back, right?_ ” Freya asked the Doctor seeing how upset Rose seemed to be at losing the right to have a TARDIS key.

The Doctor nodded “you _can_ earn it back as long as you refrain from doing anything stupid for a few trips”, he said. Rose nodded eagerly. She’d be on her best behaviour for as long as needed if that meant getting her key back. Freya picked up the spoonful of soup and tried it. She brightened at how good it tasted and within no time at all she’d finished the bowl. “I’m guessing you liked that?” the Doctor asked with a smile.

The Time Lady nodded “ _It good. Best thing I ate in long time”_ , she said. She finished up her tea “ _Thank you_ ”.

“You’re welcome”, the Doctor said “Did you want anymore?”

Freya shook her head “ _No_ ” she then glanced at her clothes “ _I need shower and new clothes_ ”, she added.

“Of course”, the Doctor replied getting up and holding his hand out to her “come with me”. The Time Lady took it and he pulled her to her feet. The two Gallifreyans walked towards the wardrobe hand in hand while Rose trailed behind them. She was curious to see what the Time Lady would pick.

~wardrobe~

Freya’s mouth dropped open when she stepped inside the wardrobe. It was huge! “ _Wow_ ”, she breathed gaping at the sheer size of it. It was going to take her some time to find something she liked. “ _Where I start?_ ” she asked.

“Wherever you like”, the Doctor answered. Freya sighed. That answer did not help her. She glanced at Rose. She was a female, maybe she knew the best place to start looking for a new outfit.

“Help please?” Freya asked.

“Sure”, Rose answered. She held out her hand to Freya. The Time Lady took it and the blonde led her further into the wardrobe, the Doctor following the pair.

“Try here”, Rose suggested stopping in front of a rail of feminine clothing in a modern style. Freya slowly walked along running a hand over the garments. Occasionally she took one out, looked at it for a moment before shaking her head and putting it back.

“Not me, sorry”, Freya said.

“That’s ok”, Rose said “we’ll just keep looking”.

“Look alone?” Freya asked and the Doctor nodded. He wanted to go with her while she looked for something but if she’s decided to look alone, then he’d respect that. Freya turned and walked away from the Doctor and Rose. She wandered through the wardrobe looking at the different garments hoping to find something that would strike her fancy. Freya sighed putting another dress back.

The Time Lady continued on, passing by a light blue dress. Freya stopped and quickly backtracked. She extracted the dress from the rail and smiled. This was the one for her. Freya slung it over one arm and begun her hunt for a pair of shoes to go with them. It didn’t take her long to find a pair of blue flats in a slightly darker shade than the dress.

She re-joined the Doctor and Rose. “You’ve found something then?” the Time Lord asked nodding to the dress in her arms.

“I have”, Freya replied “uh…shower?”

“There’s plenty of those to choose from”, the Doctor said taking her hand and leading her out of the wardrobe. He stopped outside a door and opened it. Inside was a reasonable sized bathroom. The Doctor showed Freya how the shower worked and what to use on her hair and what to use on her body. Then he left her alone to give her privacy while she showered.

Freya took her sweet time in the shower thoroughly making sure that she’d gotten out all that nastiness from her hair and the grime off her skin. Eventually, she stepped out of the shower and dried herself off. Freya put on the dress and the shoes. She then took a look at herself in the mirror and smiled. She looked better than she had for 50 years. Freya nodded her approval at her reflection and then left the bathroom.

The Time Lady found the Doctor and Rose in the console room. When the Time Lord saw her, he was speechless. His Soulmate was beautiful! Due to the state her hair was in before he couldn’t easily tell what colour it was but now he could see that it was a lovely shade of blonde. It wasn’t straight like Rose’s it was more wavy…almost like loose curls. “ _What you think?_ ” Freya asked, slipping back into Gallifreyan before giving a little twirl to show off her dress. The dress she was wearing was simple but it suited her very well.

“You look wonderful”, the Doctor replied.

Freya smiled “ _Thank you_ ”, she said happy that he liked it.

Rose considered the Time Lady’s outfit. It wasn’t what she’d expected her to choose as it was a little old fashioned and rather reminded her of Cinderella’s peasant dress. “It’s a bit…old fashioned”, she remarked and Freya’s smile fell. 

“ _That bad?_ ” she asked the Doctor.

“No, it’s not bad”, the Doctor said stepping up and taking her hands “what she means is, that its different but it suits you” the Time Lord glanced at his companion, giving her a look that dared her to disagree “right Rose?”

“Uh…yeah…that’s what I meant”, Rose stuttered feeling a bit uneasy with the look the Doctor was giving her.

The Doctor looked back at Freya and smiled “see? We both like it”, he said. The Time Lady returned his smile.

**An: the outfit Freya chose is the blue peasant dress from the 2015 live action Cinderella**


	11. Rose's choice

A little later…

Rose wandered into the console room, clutching a photo of her father. She’d been thinking a lot about him recently, just like Gwyneth said. She never really knew Pete, she only had stories that her mother had told her when she was a kid. That’s all she had for so long. Stories. And a single photo. But now she was in a time machine…

Her gaze flickered over to the Doctor and Freya who were sitting on the captain’s chair. The Time Lord was talking to the Time Lady that same language Freya spoke a little earlier. Rose had to admit she was a little irked that the TARDIS still wasn’t translating it because she really wanted to know what they were saying. The only thing she knew was that it was amusing because Freya laughed.

Rose took a deep breath and spoke getting the attention on the Doctor and Freya “I was wondering…could we go and see my dad when he was still alive?”

“Where's this come from, all of a sudden?” the Doctor asked from where he sat on the captain’s chair next to Freya. He’d been telling her some of his funnier adventures, in Gallifreyan as it appeared that the Time Lady spoke that better than English which wasn’t too much of a surprise given that it was their language after all. And then Rose walked in. 

 “All right then, if we can't, if it goes against the laws of time or something, then never mind, just leave it”, Rose said.

“No, I can do anything”, the Doctor said “I'm just more worried about you”.

“I want to see him”, Rose said adamantly.

“Your wish is my command. But be careful what you wish for”, the Doctor said getting up and going over to the console.

~Register office~

The Doctor, Rose and Freya sat at the back on the room watching the wedding.

“I, Peter Alan Tyler, take you, Jacqueline Angela Suzette Prentice…”

“I, Peter Alan Tyler, take you, Jacqueline Suzanne…Suzette…Anita…” Jackie narrowed her eyes as Pete stumbled through saying her name.

“Oh, just carry on. It's good enough for Lady Di”, she said.

“I thought he'd be taller”, Rose remarked quietly to Freya and the Doctor.

“To be my lawful wedded wife, to love and behold till death us do part”

~TARDIS~

“It was a hit and run. Right outside the church where Stewart and Sarah were getting married. Mum said…” Rose swallowed fighting back tears as she spoke about how her father died “mum said that he was dead when the ambulance got there. He died alone” Freya put an arm around her. The Time Lady knew what it was like to lose a parent having lost both in the Time War. “can we go there? So I can be with him?”

“Of course. Whats the date?” the Doctor asked.

“7th November 1987”, Rose replied.

~Waterley Street~

“It's so weird”, Rose said stepping out of the TARDIS to see that it was just an ordinary day “The day my father died…I thought it'd be all sort of grim and stormy. It's just an ordinary day”.

“The past is another country. 1987's just the Isle of Wight” the Doctor said.

“You…sure…Rose?” Freya asked.

“I’m sure Freya”, Rose replied.

~Jordan Road~

The trio stood side by side on the pavement waiting. “This is it. Jordan Road”, Rose said “He was late. He'd been to get a wedding present, a vase. Mum always said, that stupid vase” Pete’s car came around the corner “He got out of his car…” the car pulled up “…and crossed the road” and stopped “Oh, God. This is it”

They watched Pete pick up the vase from the passenger seat, completely oblivious about what was going to happen. Freya took Rose’s hand as Pete got out of the car not seeing the beige vehicle coming right for him. Rose hides her head in Freya’s shoulder, the blonde also adverting her eyes when the car hit Pete. She had seen worse in the War but that didn’t mean she could watch someone get hit by a car. She didn’t like death…especially those that could’ve been prevented.

“Go to him”, Freya said to her. Rose looked at her father, really wanting to…but she couldn’t. She let go of Freya’s hand and ran off. The Doctor and Freya hurried after her. They found the human leaning against a wall, tears in her eyes.

“I’m sorry….I just couldn’t”, Rose sniffled.

“It’s…ok…Rose”, Freya said gently completely understanding why she couldn’t. Then they heard sirens approaching. “It's too late now…he was dead when the ambulance got there. Can I try again?”

The Doctor hesitated. He knew it would be a bad idea having two sets of themselves in one place but the look on Rose’s face… he couldn’t say no.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Doctor, Rose and Freya stand out of sight, watching their first selves. “Right, that's the first us. It's a very bad idea, two sets of us being here at the same time. Just be careful they don't see us”, the Doctor told the girls “Wait till after first Freya walks away, then go to your dad”.

For the second time, Pete’s car pulls up and comes to a stop. “Oh, God. This is it”, they hear the first Rose say.

Pete picks up the vase from the passenger seat. “I can't do this”, Rose said.

“You don't have to do anything you don't want to, but this is the _last_ time we can be here”, the Doctor told her. Rose stares at her father getting out of the car. She couldn’t watch him die again. She just couldn’t. _I can stop it_ she thought and ran out.

“Rose! No!” the Doctor shouted but it was too late.

Rose rushed past their first selves and knocked her father out of the way of the oncoming car. “ _Did not see that coming_ ”, Freya remarked. She’d half expected Rose to either stay where she was, which she wouldn’t blame her for one bit or she’d pluck up the courage to do what she wanted to do and say goodbye to her dad.

The Doctor watched Rose help her father up with a horrified look on his face. _She has no idea what she’s just done…_ he thought. What Rose had just done was change a vulnerable point. That put the entire Earth at risk.

It wasn’t the entire Earth he was worried about. No, he was more concerned with the fact that Freya…the last Time Lady…his _Soulmate_ was at risk. All because Rose Tyler saved her own father.

\-----------------------

Pete enters the flat followed by the Doctor, Rose and Freya. “Right, there we go”, Pete said setting down the vase “Sorry about the mess. If you want a cup of tea, the kitchens just down there, milk's in the fridge…well, it would be, wouldn't it? Where else would you put the milk? Mind you, there's always the window sill outside. I always thought if someone invented a window sill with special compartments, you know, one for milk, one for yogurt…make a lot of money out of that”. Rose smiles in delight as she listens to him ramble on about his ideas. The Doctor and Freya hung back nodding politely. “…Sell it to students and things. I should write that down. Anyway, never mind that, excuse me for a minute” and with that Pete pushes past them and disappears through a door.

Rose looked around at all of her dad’s belongings “All the stuff mum kept. His stuff. She kept it all packed away in boxes in the cupboard. She used to show me when she'd had a bit to drink”, she said, reminiscing. 

The Doctor leans against the doorframe arms folded, saying nothing. Freya too stayed silent watching the Doctor out of the corner of her eye. His demeanour seemed to have changed the moment Rose saved Pete.

“Here it is, on display. Where it should be”, Rose said completely oblivious to the angry Time Lord and the concerned blonde behind her. She picked up a bowling trophy examining for a moment before setting it down. Then several bottles in the room caught her eye “He made his money selling this Vitex stuff. He had all sorts of jobs. He was so clever”.

Rose looks around and spotted some plans on a table “Solar power. Mum said he was going to do this. Now he can”, she said happily. She turned to the Doctor and Freya smiling but neither of them smile back. The Doctor was too angry at her and Freya… well she was worried about the Doctor.

“When we met, I said ‘travel with me in space’. You said no. Then I said ‘time machine’…” the Doctor shook his head “I did it again. I picked another stupid ape…I should've known. It's not about showing you the universe. It never is. It's about the universe doing something for _you_ ”.

Rose glared at him “So it's okay when you go to other times, and you save people's lives, but not when it's me saving my dad”, she said getting angry.

“I know what I'm doing, you don't. Two sets of us being there made that a vulnerable point”, the Doctor explained.

“But he's alive!” Rose argued.

“Our entire planet died. Our families. Do you think it never occurred to me to go back and save them?” The Doctor shot back. Freya looked down, hugging her arms around herself trying not to remember _how_ her parents…her brother…died. The Time Lord noticed this and put an arm around her.

 “But it's not like I've changed history. Not much. I mean he's never going to be a world leader. He's not going to start World War Three or anything….”

“Rose, there's a man alive in the world who wasn't alive before. An ordinary man. That's the most important thing in creation. The whole world's different because he's alive”, the Doctor told her.

“What, would you rather him dead?” Rose asked.

Freya opened her mouth to say something when the Doctor beat her to it. “I'm not saying that…” he said exasperated.

“No, I get it!” Rose said angrily “For once, you're not the most important man in my life”. 

“Let's see how you get on without me, then”, the Doctor said “see ya”. He took Freya’s hand and led her to the front door. Rose quickly went after them.

“You don't scare me”, she said unconvincingly as she managed to slipped past them to stand between the pair and the door “I know how sad you are…”

“Was sad”, the Doctor corrected her.

“What?” Rose asked a look of confusion on her face.

“I was sad because I was alone. But I’ve got Freya now”, the Doctor told her. 

“Yeah but you wouldn’t leave me here, you’ll just hang around the TARDIS waiting for me” the Doctor just glared and pushed past her, still holding onto Freya’s hand. He opened the door and walked out with the Time Lady “And I'll make you wait a long time!” Rose shouted after him before slamming the front door.

\----------------

“ _We really leaving her behind?_ ” Freya asked as they walked away.

“Yes, she made her choice”, the Doctor replied.

“ _But Jackie…_ ” Freya started.

“Rose made her choice the moment she decided to save her dad”, he said.

“Yeah…I guess”, Freya said reluctantly agreeing with him. She cast one last glance at the Powell Estate and sighed.

~Waterley Street~

The Doctor stopped outside the TARDIS, pulled out his key and unlocked the door. When he pushed it open, they saw that the inside was gone! “ _She gone_ ”, Freya said as the Doctor felt around the walls “ _how?_ ”

The Doctor stopped feeling the walls and turned to Freya. She was a little startled by the look on his face “Rose”, he said angrily. He ran off down the road, Freya running after him.


	12. Pete's choice

Freya yelped when she tripped over as she still wasn’t used to running due to her long stint at Van Statten’s museum. The Doctor stopped upon hearing her cry. He turned around, eyes widening when he saw her get up from the floor. “You ok?” he asked checking her over for injuries. Thankfully she didn’t have any.

“ _Yeah, I am not used to running”_ , she admitted. The Doctor scooped her up into his arms and continued his way towards the church. When they neared it, he set her down and took her hand. The pair saw several people milling outside, Rose among them.

“Rose!” the Doctor shouted as they drew closer to the building. The blonde turned to them with this smile on her face “Get in the church!”

Rose smile faded as she heard the urgency in his voice. The Doctor looks to her left, Rose following his gaze and before her eyes a Reaper appeared. The blonde teen screamed at it bared down on her. Thankfully the Time Lord managed to tackle her out of the way just in time, sending them both to the floor. The Doctor then grabbed her arm and hauled her to her feet, ushering her, Freya into the church along with everyone else. He quickly shut the doors just before the Reaper managed to get in. “They can't get in. Old windows and doors. Okay. The older something is, the stronger it is”, the Doctor said looking around at the shadows of the Reapers outside the windows.

“ _What we do now?_ ” Freya asked him.

“We need to check the other doors, make sure they’re secure”, the Doctor replied. Freya nodded and headed off to check the nearest door. As the Doctor went to check another one nearby, a younger Jackie Tyler approaches him.

“What's happening? What are they?” she asked.

“There's been an accident in time. A wound in time. They're like bacteria, taking advantage”, the Doctor replied.

“What do you mean, time? What're you jabbering on about, time?” Jackie demanded.

“Oh, I might've known you'd argue”, the Doctor said irritated “Jackie, I'm sick of you complaining….”

“How do you know my name?” Jackie asked. 

“I haven't got time for this…” the Doctor began when the woman continued talking.

“I've never met you in my life!”

“No, and you never will unless I sort this out. Now, if you don't mind, I've waited a long time to say this. Jackie Tyler, do as I say. Go, and, check, the, doors”, the Doctor ordered pointing in the direction of the doors.

“Yes, sir”, Jackie said after staring at him for a moment.

“ _You enjoyed that didn’t you?_ ” Freya asked having seen their conversation.

“Just a little”, the Doctor replied. Freya raised her eye brows, not believing him. “Ok maybe a lot”, he amended. Stuart, the groom approached them.

“My dad was out there”, he said sadly. Stuart’s father was one of the people the Reaper took during the chaos outside, the Priest being the second.

“I am sorry”, Freya said sympathetically making sure to speak clearly in English.

“You can mourn him later. Right now we've got to concentrate on keeping ourselves alive”, the Doctor told him.

“My dad had…”

“There's nothing I can do for him”, the Doctor cut in.

“No, but he had this phone thing. I can't get it to work. I keep getting this voice…” Stuart handed the phone over to the Doctor. He put it to his ear and heard

“Watson, come here. We need you. Watson, come here. We need you”

“That's the very first phone call. Alexander Graham Bell”, the Doctor handed the phone back “I don't think the telephone's going to be much use”.

“But someone must have called the police”, Stuart called after him as he and Freya continued on their way. The Doctor turned to him and the other guests.

“Police can't help you now. No one can. Nothing in this universe can harm those things. Time's been damaged and they've come to sterilise the wound” the Doctor made eye contact with Rose “By consuming everything in sight”.

“Is this because…” Rose began shakily “Is this my fault?”

The Doctor didn’t say anything, just gave her a simple look. A look that said yes, it was her fault. Freya made to follow him when Jackie stopped her “would you mind looking after my daughter for a bit?” she asked nodding to the carry-cot that was sitting on one of the pews.

“Of course”, Freya replied.

“Thank you”

Freya went over to the carry-cot and looked down at baby Rose and she couldn’t help but smile. She loved children, especially her little niece, Aya.

\------------------------------

After having a brief conversation with Stuart and Sarah, in which he assured them that he’d do everything that he could, he went to go find Freya. He found her sitting on one of the pews, cradling a baby in her arms. As he neared where she sat, he could hear her softly singing to the baby in Gallifreyan. He hung back not wanting to disturb her.

As the Doctor listened, he found that he quite liked the sound of her voice. It was rather calming. Once she’d finished, the Doctor went over. “That was nice”, he commented.

“You heard that?” Freya asked.

 “Yep. You’re quite good”

Freya blushed at his compliment “ _Thanks. Used to sing to my niece. Thought might keep baby Rose calm_ ”, she said nodding at the baby who was resting peacefully in her arms.

“So that’s baby Rose huh?” the Doctor asked sitting next to her.

“ _Yes_ ”, Freya replied.

“How did you end up on babysitting duty?” the Doctor asked.

“ _Jackie want me to look after her_ ”, Freya answered “ _Must trust me_ ”.

 They looked up when they heard footsteps coming towards them, it was older Rose. Her eyes were red like she’d been crying. “I'd better be careful. I think I just imprinted myself on Mickey like a mother chicken” she reached over to take her baby self from Freya when the Doctor grabbed her hand.

“No. Don't touch the baby”, he pushed her hand away “You're both the same person. That's a paradox, and we don't want a paradox happening, not with these things outside. Anything new, any disturbance in time makes them stronger. The paradox might let them in”.

“Can't do anything right, can I?” Rose muttered.

“Since you ask, no. So, don't…touch…the…baby”, the Doctor said sounding to Freya at least that he was talking to a dimwit.

Rose narrowed her eyes at him “I'm…not…stupid”

“You could have fooled me”, the Doctor spat not even caring about the hurt look on Rose’s face. Freya shifted baby Rose into one arm so she could take his hand, rubbing her thumb on the back of it to try to calm him. Her actions of rubbing her thumb on the back on the Time Lord’s hand seemed to work because he felt himself relax under her touch.

“I don’t have a plan Freya”, the Doctor said deciding to focus on his Soulmate. At least he wasn’t angry with her “No idea. No way out”.

“ _You will figure something out_ ”, Freya said “ _I believe in you_ ”.

The Doctor gave her a small smile. He was glad she believed in him. “Thanks but there’s nothing I can do. The entire Earth's being sterilised”, he said “This, and other places like it, are all that's left of the human race. We might hold out for a while, but nothing can stop those creatures” he looked at the shadow’s circling the church “They'll get through in the end. The walls aren't that old. And there's nothing I can do to stop them” his grip tightened on Freya’s hand. She was in danger and there wasn’t anything he could do to save her and everyone else in the church “There used to be laws stopping this kind of thing from happening. Our people would have stopped this. But they're all gone. And now we’re going the same way”.

Rose stayed silent thinking on the severity of the situation. She never would’ve believed that saving her father’s life could mean the end of the world. Freya suddenly gasped, yanking a chain from under her dress. There hung her TARDIS key and it was glowing brightly.

“It's the TARDIS key”, the Doctor said excitedly. Freya put baby Rose back into her carrycot before carefully giving the key to the Doctor.

“ _That good?_ ” Freya asked she asked noting the look on his face as she gave it to him.

“Its very good Freya”, the Doctor replied, smiling at her “It's telling me it's still connected to the TARDIS”. He got up and hurried to the front on the church. He turned and faced the guests holding up the key. “The inside of my ship was thrown out of the wound but we can use this to bring it back. And once I've got my ship back, then I can mend everything”, the Doctor explained “Now, I just need a bit of power. Has anybody got a battery?”

Stuart gave him the battery from his dad’s phone “Just need to do a bit of charging up…” the Doctor pressed sonic to the battery “and we can bring everyone back”.

Rose and Freya watched as the Doctor slotted the key into thin air and the TARDIS started to materialize slowly “Right, no one touches that key. Have you got that? Don't touch it. Anyone touches that key, it'll be, well, zap. Just leave it be and everything will be fine. We'll get out of here. All of us. Stuart, Sarah you're going to get married, just like I said”.

\------------------

The Doctor came to sit back down beside Freya, Rose and Pete on the pew behind them. “When time gets sorted out…” Rose said slowly.

“Everybody here forgets what happened”, the Doctor told her “And don't worry, the thing that you changed will stay changed”. 

“You mean I'll still be alive, though I'm meant to be dead” Rose just looks at him without speaking. Pete nodded realising that he wasn’t alive in the future “That's why I haven't done anything with my life, why I didn't mean anything”.

“It doesn't work like that”, the Doctor said.

“Rubbish. I'm so useless I couldn't even die properly. Now it's my fault all of this has happened”, Pete said.

Rose placed a hand on Pete’s arm “This is my fault”, she said.

“No, love. I'm your dad. It's my job for it to be my fault”

“Her dad? How are you her dad?” Jackie asked appearing next to them with baby Rose in her arms “How old were you, twelve? Oh, that's disgusting”.

Pete stands up “Jacks, listen. This is Rose”, he said. 

“Rose?” Jackie said both angry and upset at the thought that her daughter was given a second hand name “How sick is that? You give my daughter a second hand name? How many are there? Do you call them all Rose?”

“Oh, for God's sake, look. It's the same Rose!” Pete reached out and took the baby from her. He gave it to Rose and both the Doctor and Freya jumped up to stop him knowing exactly what would happen.

“Rose! No!” they shouted but it was too late.

Freya quickly snatched the baby away and gave her back to Jackie when a Reaper appeared in the middle of the church. Seeing the alien caused all the guests to go into a panic. “Everyone, behind me!” they hurried to do as he said. The Doctor strode forward and addressed the Reaper “I'm the oldest thing in here”, he said. 

The Reaper dove for him but suddenly he was shoved out of the way. The Doctor rolled over in time to see the creature consuming his Soulmate.

“FREYA!”

The Reaper swooped around the church, ready to attack again when it collided with the semi-transparent TARDIS. It and the blue box vanished causing the key to fall to the floor. The Doctor stared at the spot that Freya had been in, shocked...his hearts broken into a thousand pieces. She was gone. His Soulmate was gone. And it was all Rose’s fault.

The blonde teen in question ran over to the key and picked it up “It's cold”, she breathed tears welling up in her eyes “The key's cold. Oh, my God, she's dead. Freya’s dead. It’s all my fault….all of you…” Rose’s voice cracks as it the consequences of her actions finally hit her “The whole world….”

The Doctor finally managed to tear his eyes away from the spot Freya had been to look at Rose who looked devastated by what she’d done. He wasn’t going to comfort her though. Why should he? It was all her fault. _She_ was the one who got that stupid idea to save Pete Tyler in the first place. And now the entire world was paying the price.

“Yes it is your fault”, the Doctor said getting up, his voice hard and cold “I thought I was the last for so long…then I find Freya and things seemed to be better” for the briefest of moments small smile graced his face as he thought about the last Time Lady, his Soulmate. Then the smile was gone, replaced by a look of anger…borderline on fury “But she’s gone now because of you Rose Tyler”, he spat at the blonde who flinched at his tone. The Time Lord stormed over to the doors, Rose running after him.

“What are you doing?” she asked grabbing hold of the sleeve of his leather jacket though she quickly let go when he gave her a glare.

“I’m letting them in”, the Doctor told her and continued towards the doors. Somehow Rose managed to get between the Time Lord and the doors, holding her hands out in a ‘surrender’ position.

“You can’t do this Doctor, there’s innocent people here”, she said.

“ _You_ should’ve thought of that when you saved your father”, the Doctor angrily countered.

“What about Freya?” Rose asked “She wouldn’t want you to do this”. The Doctor glared at her again. How _dare_ she use Freya’s name against him like that! _She_ was the reason that his Soulmate was taken in the first place! However, a very small part of him knew that Rose was right. Freya wouldn’t want him to let the Reapers in.

The Time Lord shoved past Rose, going over to the small steps by the pulpit. He wouldn’t let the Reapers in but he wasn’t going to stop them when they finally gained entry to the church. He was just going to sit there and wait knowing that when the Reapers took him, there was a chance he’d be reunited with Freya. That was all that mattered to him.

Pete had watched the interaction between his daughter and the Time Lord. He’d seen how devastated the Doctor had been, how angry. And he knew what he had to do. What he should’ve done when he looked out the window and saw the beige car vanish before his eyes. The Doctor had tried to protect him from it. He had to die. It was the only way to save everyone.

He went to the pew where his jacket lay and put it on. He then picked up the vase “what are you doing?” Rose asked as she saw him walk towards the doors holding the vase.

“That car should’ve killed me, love. All this is happening because I’m alive. So I have to make it right”

“But you can't”, Rose said her voice cracking.

“Who am I, love?” Pete asked.

“My daddy”

Jackie came over to them and looks at Rose with wide eyes “Jackie…look at her. She's ours”

The woman looked at Rose for a moment before the truth dawned on her “oh, god…” she said hugging her teenaged daughter.

“I'm meant to be dead, Jackie. You're going to get rid of me at last”, Pete said.

“Don't say that”, Jackie said trying to hold back tears.

“For once in your life, trust me. It's got be done” Pete said gently “You've got to survive, because you've got to bring up our daughter” he gestures to Rose before pulling Jackie in for one last kiss. He then turns to Rose “I never read you those bedtime stories. I never took you on those picnics. I was never there for you”.

“You would have been”, Rose said crying.

“But I can do this for you. I can be a proper dad to you now”

“But it's not fair”, Rose said. 

Pete smiled “I've had all these extra hours. No one else in the world has ever had that. And on top of that, I got to see you. And you're beautiful” he placed a hand on Rose’s cheek as she sobbed silently.  “How lucky am I, eh? So, come on, do as your dad says. You going to be there for me, love?” Rose nodded “Thanks for saving me”. 

Pete pulls his wife and daughter in for a group hug before he ran out of the church. Rose stood in the doorway as the beige car hit her father. She hesitated for a moment before running out to hold his hand just like she had originally intended.

Inside the church the Doctor looked up to see Freya in same spot where she’d been taken. Immediately he was on his feet, walking quickly towards her. Upon hearing him, the blonde spun around and was practically pulled into a tight embrace straight away.

She was back! His Soulmate was back! He was never, ever losing her like that. Ever again. And to do that he had to get rid of the reason that she was taken in the first place.

\-------------

Rose watched with her bag in her hand and the two Time Lord's spoke in that weird language again. She didn't understand and word that was being said but she got the jist of it. The Doctor wanted her to leave while Freya wanted her to stay. The blonde was both surprised and grateful that the Time Lady was defending her especially since the Doctor really didn’t want her there, if the way he acted towards her was any indication. She also knew the TARDIS didn’t want her there either as the ship had dropped her bag off in the console room the second she’d stepped inside.

The Time Lord turned to Rose. “You can stay”, he said, winding his arm around Freya’s waist. The Time Lord really, really didn’t want the human to stay but Freya had managed to persuade him to give Rose another chance. What did it for him was the Time Lady saying that she’d never had a human friend before. And he didn’t want to upset her by sending away the first human who’d been kind to her…so his feelings aside, he was going to let Rose stay.

“Really?” Rose asked hardly daring to believe what he was saying.

“Yes”, the Doctor replied “but that was your first strike Rose. Do anything like that again and you’re out”.


	13. Mauve alert

The Doctor couldn’t help but smile as he watched Freya pilot the TARDIS. She’d asked if he didn’t mind if she refreshed herself on how to fly the ship as it had been some time since she’d done it. The Time Lord readily agreed, even going so far to teach her the controls. Though he quickly stopped when it became apparent that she wasn’t a rusty as she thought she was.

Rose just sat in the captains chair watching the two of them silently. She didn’t want to disturb them even though she was very interested in what they were doing. Hopefully she would be able to pick up a thing or two by listening so she would be able to help out if the need arose or if they asked her for a hand. And she really, really hoped they did ask for her help. She’d do anything to get back in the Doctor’s good graces.

Suddenly the console room shook and an alarm started to blare. “ _That not me, was it?”_ Freya asked the Doctor.

“No, it wasn’t you”, he said moving around to the scanner, frowning at the screen.

“What’s happening?” Rose asked getting up and going over to the console “Why’s the alarm going off?”

“Mauve”, Freya replied in English, still speaking slowly but not a slow a few days ago as she was getting used to speaking the language.

“Mauve?” Rose repeated confused.

“Colour for danger”, Freya answered simply watching the Doctor work frantically at the controls. She hoped he wasn’t doing anything silly like slaving the TARDIS to the mystery object.

“I thought red was the colour for danger”, Rose said tightening her grip as the place shook even more violently.

“Red for humans”, Freya said “Mauve universally recognised”.

“Ah”, Rose nodded understanding.

“ _It's got a very basic flight computer Freya_ ” the Doctor reported, in Gallifreyan which made Freya frown. Why wasn’t he talking in English so Rose could understand?

“ _Please tell me, you not slave TARDIS to it?_ ”” Freya asked. The Time Lords silence coupled with his refusal to look at her, gave her the answer. “ _That dangerous Doctor_ ”, she scolded.

“ _It’s the only way to find out where its going_ ”, the Doctor told her.  

“What are you guys saying?” Rose piped up wanting to know what’s going on. They were talking in that language again which the TARDIS didn’t seem to want to translate for her.

“He tied TARDIS to object”, Freya explained, switching back to English “Where it go, we follow”.

“And…that's safe, is it?” Rose questioned.

Freya shook her head “Not really”, she replied “hold on tight”, she told the blonde teen. Rose nodded, tightening her grip even more onto the console. She flinched as part of the console exploded.

“ _No, no, no, no! It's jumping time tracks, getting away from us_ ”, the Doctor said frantically working at the console.

“ _What exactly is that thing?_ ” Freya asked as she managed to make her way around to Rose in order to keep the human on her feet.

“ _No idea_ ”, the Doctor replied.

“ _If not know, why we chasing it?”_ Freya asked.

 **“** _It's mauve and dangerous, and about thirty seconds from the centre of London_ ”, the Doctor replied. Freya’s eyes widened at that.

“ _Oh boy_ ”, she breathed in English.

\--------------------

“ _That object must’ve come down somewhere quite close. Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month_ ”, the Doctor said as they stepped out of the TARDIS, taking in their surroundings.

“What’s he saying?” Rose asked.

“Object came down nearby. About a month”, Freya translated.

“But we were right behind it!” Rose exclaimed.

“It was jumping time tracks all over the place”, the Doctor stated as if he expected her to understand.

“ _Now_ you wanna talk English”, Rose huffed “what was that language you were talking before? I couldn’t understand it, the TARDIS wouldn’t translate”.

“Gallifreyan. Our language. TARDIS doesn’t translate”, Freya explained as the Doctor seemed to pointedly ignore Rose’s question.

“Uh huh. So what’s the plan then? Scan for alien tech?” Rose questioned.

“It hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. I'm going to ask”, the Doctor replied pulling out his physic paper.

“Doctor John Smith and _Mrs_ Freya Smith, Ministry of Asteroids”, Rose read aloud.

“Mrs?” Freya asked confused “you made me your wife?”  

“Yeah. That’s ok isn’t it?” the Doctor asked. He hadn’t intended for that to appear on the paper, it just happened. And technically it wasn’t that far wrong. Being his Soulmate was a little like being his wife…except it was so much more…and in his opinion having a soulmate was better than a wife. Spouse’s can divorce…separate from each other but soulmates stay together for the rest of their lives. He believed it was because of the deep connection soulmates have to one another.

And while their own connection was weak at the moment…they had only just started after all, the Doctor was looking forward to the moment when they exchange names which was the next stage of the process. After that point is when the connection between them would really start to strengthen.

 **“** That fine”, Freya answered “is believable?”

“Course it is. Now come on, we’ve got to find people to ask”, the Doctor said taking Freya’s hand and started to walk away from the TARDIS. Rose slowly trailed after them. The trio stopped by a door where they could here faint music coming from the other side. “ _Door, music, people. What do you think?_ ” the Doctor asked getting out his sonic.

Rose sighed when he switched back to the other language. She understood that he wasn’t too happy with her but seriously? This was a little childish. “He asking if we go in”, Freya said to Rose. Looks like she was going to have to have a talk with the Doctor if he kept up with the whole speaking in Gallifreyan thing. It really wasn’t fair to Rose.

“I think you should do a scan for alien tech. Give me some Spock, for once”, Rose repeated. The Doctor just ignored her and started sonicing the lock. “Freya? You agree with me don’t you?” she asked looking for some support from the Time Lady.

“Who’s Spock?”  Freya asked confused.

“He’s a….” Rose started before deciding to forgo the explanation over who Spock was “never mind. Do you agree we should scan for alien tech?”

Freya glanced at the Doctor who was still sonicing the door but secretly listening “Don’t think it hurt to talk”, she replied “If no help then scan”.

The Doctor glanced at her “Good plan”, he said and turned back to the door. Rose threw her hands up in frustration. Freya put a hand on her shoulder.

“I talk to him”, she said quietly. Rose offered her a grateful smile in response. The Doctor got the door open and held out his hand to Freya who took it. Rose was about to follow them in when she heard a child call out for his mother though it was rather eerie sounding to her.

The Doctor and Freya followed the music into a crowded drinking den, full of smoke, chatter and a singer. They hung back listening to the singer on stage. “For nobody else gave me the thrill. When I have uphold silence still, it had to be you, wonderful you. It had to be you”

The two time travellers applauded along with everyone else. “She’s not as good as you”, the Doctor remarked quietly to Freya who blushed slightly at his compliment. The Doctor then made his way onto the stage “Could I have everybody's attention just for a mo? Be very quick, eh… Hello!” he waved at the crowd “Might seem like a stupid question, but has anything fallen from the sky recently?”

There was silence and then everyone except Freya started to laugh at him. “Sorry, have I said something funny?” the Doctor asked looking around the room confused. Freya glanced from person to person wondering why they were laughing at him, it was a perfectly sensible question in her opinion. That was when she noticed something on the wall. She made her way over to it as people just continued laughing at the Doctor “It's just, there's this thing that I need to find. Would've fallen from the sky a couple of days ago”

A siren sounded and everyone started to get up and leave. Freya’s eyes widened as she looked at the thing that was hanging from the wall, a poster. “No”, she breathed. She knew enough about Earth History to know that they’d landed in a pretty dangerous time.

“Would've landed quite near here…” the Doctor continued looking up at the ceiling where the sirens seemed to be coming from. Freya tore the poster from the wall “With a very loud…” the Time Lady held up the poster so that the Doctor could see “Bang”. The Time Lord then realized what time period they were in. He jumped down from the stage, grabbed Freya’s hand and pulled her out of the drinking den. “Rose!” the Doctor shouted when he reached the alley way. The blonde was nowhere to be seen. They went back to the TARDIS and still no Rose. Freya noticed a cat sitting on top of a dustbin.

“Aw”, she said scooping it up “cute”. She scratched it behind the ears making the cat purr.

“This is just typical”, the Doctor grumbled “You know…one day, just one day, maybe… I'm going to meet someone who gets the whole ‘don't wander off thing’”.

“Humans curious”, Freya told him.

“Yes they are”, the Doctor agreed.

“Doctor why you talk in Gallifreyan?” Freya asked “Rose can’t understand”.

“Just felt like it”, the Time Lord replied “and I know you’re struggling to speak in English”. He noted how her speech would be broken in one moment, the next it would be fluid. The same went for when she spoke in Gallifreyan. Though with their native language she sounded much more confident.

“Not spoken it in long time”, Freya stated “but will get hang of it soon. No need to change language. Stick with one we all understand”.

“Are you sure?” the Doctor asked and Freya nodded.

“So how we find Rose?” Freya questioned. The Doctor was about to say something when the TARDIS phone started to ring. The Time Lord looked at the police box quizzically.

“What am I supposed to do with a ringing phone?” the Doctor asked.

“Answer”, Freya replied wondering why he was asking the question. It was pretty obvious, even to her.

“You don’t understand. This phone isn’t connected”, The Doctor said getting his screwdriver out.

“How…” Freya began when a young female voice spoke behind them.

“Don't answer it. It's not for you”

The Doctor and Freya turned around to see a young woman, Nancy, standing there in a dark thick coat. “And how do you know that?” the Doctor asked.  

“'Cos I do. And I'm tellin’ ya, don't answer it”, Nancy said again.

“Well, if you know so much, tell me this. How can it be ringing?” the Doctor turned back to the phone “It's not even a real phone. It's not connected, it's not…” he broke off when Freya tapped his shoulder.

“She’s…gone”, she said. The young woman had slipped away when the Doctor was talking. As the young woman was gone, the Doctor turned to Freya.

“Should I answer it?” he asked.

“Yes”, Freya replied. The Doctor nodded and picked up the receiver holding it between himself and the Time Lady so she could hear as well.

“Hello?” silence on the other end except crackling “This is the Doctor speaking” more crackling “How may I help you?”

“Mummy?” a little boy’s voice called.

“Who is this? Who's speaking?” the Doctor demanded.

“Are you my mummy?” the child asked.

“Who is this?” the Doctor repeated.

“Mummy?” the boy asked again.

“How did you ring here? This isn't a real phone. It's not wired up to anything, it…”

“Mummy?” the boy asked for the third time before the line went dead. The Doctor and Freya.  exchanged puzzled looks. The blonde Time Lady replaced the phone back on the cradle as the Time Lord peeked inside the TARDIS calling for the teenager. Again there was no answer from Rose. Suddenly there was a crashing sound behind Freya and the Doctor. The pair ran, following the sound out of the alley.


	14. Dinner in the Blitz

The pair reached the street, the Doctor’s arm around Freya to support her as she’d stumbled due to still not being used to running. “The planes are coming”, they heard a woman called “Can't you hear them? Into the shelter. None of your nonsense, now move it!” the Doctor and Freya climbed onto a couple of dustbins to look over the garden wall where the woman was talking. She was ushering a boy into an air raid shelter. The woman turned back to the house “Arthur! Arthur, will you hurry up? Didn't you hear the siren?” she called.

A large man exits the house “Middle of dinner, every night. Blooming Germans” he grumbled. “Don't you eat?” he shouted at the sky. The Doctor found that rather amusing. The moment the family had gone into the shelter, Freya noticed movement near the house. She nudged the Doctor.

“It’s that girl”, the Time Lady said.

“So it is”, the Doctor said watching her slip into the house “What do you think Freya? Fancy having dinner in the middle of an air raid?”

“Not sensible”, she replied “but need answers”. The Doctor climbed down from the bin and helped Freya down from the one she’d perched on.

The Time travellers entered the house via the back door and hung back as several children entered through the front door. The Doctor pulled out a chair for Freya and before sitting down next to her. The children chattered away, completely oblivious to the two Time Lords in the room. Same went for Nancy. That is…until the Doctor spoke up after taking two slices of meat.

“It's all right! Everybody stay where you are!” Nancy said to the children who were startled by the presence of Freya and the Doctor. 

“Good here, innit? Who's got the salt?” the Doctor said grinning at them. Freya also gave them a smile, accepting one of the slices of meat that the Doctor had offered her. “So, you lot, what's the story?” he asked helping himself to some sauce.

“What do you mean?” the boy called Ernie asked.

“You're homeless, right? Living rough?” the Doctor questioned.

“Why do you want to know that? Are you a copper?” Jim asked.

“Of course I'm not a copper. Freya isn’t one either. What's a copper going to do with you lot anyway? Arrest you for starving?” the children laughed at his question, the tension in the room now broken. “I make it 1941, you lot shouldn’t be in London. You should’ve been evacuated to the country by now”.

“I was evacuated. Sent me to a farm”, Alf explained.

“Why come back?” Freya questioned.

“There was a man there”, Alf said quietly.

“Yeah, same with Ernie. Two homes ago”, Jim spoke up.

“It's better on the streets anyway. Its better food”, Ernie added.

“Yeah. Nancy always gets the best food for us”, Jim agreed.

“So, that's what you do, is it, Nancy?” the Doctor asked the young woman.

“What is?” Nancy asked.

“As soon as the sirens go, you find a big fat family meal still warm on the table with everyone down in the air raid shelter and bingo! Feeding frenzy for the homeless kids of London Town”, the Doctor replied “Puddings for all! As long as the bombs don't get you”.

“Something wrong with that?” Nancy asked getting defensive.

“Wrong with it? It's brilliant. I'm not sure if it's Marxism in action or a West End musical”, the Doctor said with a grin.

The children looked at him confused. “Why'd you two follow me? What do you want?” Nancy demanded.

“I want to know how a phone that isn't a phone gets a phone call. You seem to be the one to ask”, the Doctor answered.

“I did you a favour. I told you both not to answer it, that's all I'm telling ya”, Nancy said standing up taking his plate away. Freya frowned, Nancy sounded rather…defensive. Like there was something she was hiding. “Alright what do you two want? You didn’t just come here for food and about the phone call. There’s something else”, Nancy continued.

“There is something else. We’ve been looking for something that would’ve fallen out of the sky about a month ago, but not a bomb” the Doctor took out a notebook from his pocket “It would’ve fallen out of the sky about a month ago. It wouldn’t have exploded like a bomb, just buried itself in the ground somewhere. And it would’ve looked something like…” the Doctor quickly sketches the object he’d been chasing through the time vortex “this”.

He shows them the drawing. Nancy looked at it intently but didn’t say anything. Suddenly there was a knock at the window. The Doctor and Freya went over to the window, where the Time Lord pulled back the curtain to reveal a child wearing a gas mask.

“Mummy?” he called knocking on the glass “Are you in there, mummy?” 

“Who was the last one in?” Nancy asked urgently.

“They were”, Ernie said pointing at Freya and the Doctor.

“No, they came round the back”, Nancy said “Who came in the front?”

“Me”, Alf said quietly.

“Did you close the door?” Nancy asked. When Alf hesitated, Nancy asked again “Did you close the door?” she didn’t even wait to get a reply, she just rushed out into the hallway and bolted the door.

“Mummy?” the child called through the front door.

“What's this, then? It's never easy being the only child left out in the cold, you know”, the Doctor said joining her out in the hallway with Freya.

“It's not exactly a child”, Nancy informed them.

Freya frowned wondering what she meant by that. _He must be so scared being out there on his own._ If her niece had been in the same position, she’d hoped that someone would show enough kindness and take her in. 

Both time travellers watched as the children hurried out into the hall and out the back. “Mummy?” the boy called again. Freya took several steps towards the front door. “Please let me in, mummy”, the child begged. A little hand with a scar on it poked through the letter box.

“Are you all right?” the Doctor asked standing beside Freya.

“Please let me in”, the boy repeated. Freya reached out but before she could touch his hand, an object goes sailing past and shattered against the door. The child’s hand withdraws from the letter box. 

“You mustn't let him touch ya!” Nancy warned.

“What happens if he touches her?” the Doctor asked tugging Freya behind him to put some distance between her and the boy.

“He'll make her like him”, Nancy replied.

“And what's he like?” the Doctor queried.

“I've got to go”, Nancy said not really wanting to spend another moment longer in the house. 

“Nancy, what's he like?” the Doctor repeated.

After a moment’s hesitation, Nancy answered “He's empty”

The telephone rings “It's him. He can make phones ring. He can. Just like with that police box you saw” the Doctor picked up the phone.

“Are you my mummy?” the trio head the child say. Nancy snatched the receiver and slammed it back down. Radio started to play in the dining room, the child calling through it for his mum. A clockwork monkey also started up, the child’s voice also coming from it as well. Freya looked at the shadow of the boy by the front door. _How can an ordinary child speak through all those things?_ She thought confused. Nancy left the house not wanting to stay there a moment longer.

“Doctor”, Freya called seeing the boy stick his hand through the letter box.

“Mummy? Let me in please, mummy. Please let me in”, he pleaded.

“She not here”, Freya said torn between staying where she was and going to the door. On one hand there was Nancy’s warning and on the other there was a scared little boy outside. 

“Are you my mummy?” the boy asked again.

“No mummies here”, the Doctor said when he joined Freya “Nobody here but us chickens”, he glanced back as the deserted house “Well, two chickens” he corrected.

“I'm scared”

“Why are those other children frightened of you?” the Doctor asked.

“Please let me in, mummy. I'm scared of the bombs”, the child pleaded again.

“Should I open the door?” the Doctor asked Freya. He wanted because he left sorry for the boy but he also didn’t want to if it turned out the Nancy was right and he was dangerous.

The Time Lady nodded “He only a boy. Easy to outrun”, she said.

“Okay. I'm opening the door now”, the Doctor said.

The boy pulls his hand back and the Doctor draws back the bolts. When he opened the door, the boy was gone. The Doctor and Freya walked down the path looking up and down the deserted street. There was no sign of the child. “He…fast”, Freya remarked.

“We need to find Nancy. If anyone’s going to have answers, it’s her”, the Doctor said and Freya nodded in agreement.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nancy was startled when she turned around to see the Doctor and Freya standing in the doorway of the outer house she’d just entered. “How'd you follow me here?” she asked.

“I'm good at following, me. Got the nose for it”, the Doctor said, sounding rather proud at that.

“People can't usually follow me if I don't want them to”, Nancy said looking at both of them suspiciously.

“My nose has special powers”, the Doctor explained making Freya smile.

“Yeah? That's why it's uh…” Nancy trailed off, not able to finish that sentence without cracking up.

“What?” the Doctor asked wondering why she just trailed off.

“Nothing”, Nancy said trying really hard not to laugh.

“What?” the Doctor asked again.

“Nothing!” Nancy grinned “Do your ears have special powers too?” she asked teasingly.

“What are you trying to say?” the Doctor asked calmly.

“They’re bit big”, Freya stated “but I like. They suit you”.

“Yeah?” the Doctor said, slight tint of pink in his cheeks at her compliment.

“Yeah”, Freya said.

“Goodnight, Mister”, Nancy said with a smile before she turned away.

“Nancy, there's something chasing you and the other kids. Looks like a boy and it isn't a boy, and it started about a month ago, right?” Nancy turned back to the pair “The thing I'm looking for, the thing that fell from the sky, that's when it landed. And you know what I'm talking about, don't you?”

“There was a bomb. A bomb that wasn't a bomb. Fell the other end of Limehouse Green Station”, Nancy replied.

“Take us there”, the Doctor ordered.

“There's soldiers guarding it. Barbed wire. You'll never get through”, Nancy told them.

“Try us”, the Time Lord said confidently.

“You sure you want to know what's going on in there?” Nancy asked both of them.

“I really want to know”, the Doctor replied.

“Same”, Freya added.

“Then there's someone you need to talk to first”, Nancy said.

“And who might that be?” the Doctor asked.

“The Doctor”, Nancy replied. She turns away, missing the confused look the Doctor’s face.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Even after Nancy showed them where the bomb was, she still insisted that they go see the Doctor first. When Freya asked why, Nancy replied with “Cos then maybe you won’t wanna get inside”.

“Where're you going?” the Doctor asked as she started to head back up the steps.

“There was a lot of food in that house. I've got mouths to feed. Should be safe enough now”, Nancy replied.

“Can I ask you a question? Who did you lose?” he asked, turning to face her.

“What?”

“The way you look after all those kids. It's because you lost somebody, isn't it? You're doing all this to make up for it”, the Doctor said having worked all that out while they were in the house.

“My little brother. Jamie. One night I went out looking for food” Nancy explained “Same night that thing fell. I told him not to follow me, I told him it was dangerous, but he just. He just didn't like being on his own”.

“I’m sorry”, Freya said sincerely. She knew what it was like to lose loved ones having lost _everyone_ she ever cared about in the War.

“Amazing”, the Doctor remarked.

“What is?” Nany asked confused.

“1941. Right now, not very far from here, the German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe” the Doctor explained “Country after country, falling like dominoes. Nothing can stop it. Nothing. Until one, tiny, damp little island says ‘no’. No. Not here”.

“Mouse in front of lion”, Freya added.

“Exactly”, the Doctor agreed “You're amazing, the lot of you” he looked between Freya and Nancy, a proud look on his face “Don't know what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me. Off you go then…do what you've got to do. Save the world”.

Feeling slightly better by the Doctor’s words, Nancy turned and walked away. “You think humans are amazing?” the Time Lady asked “Last time…”

“Freya I _was_ angry”, the Doctor gently cut in “and in Rose’s case, I still am. Her actions took you away from me” he took her hands “that is _never_ going to happen ever again”. He let go of one of her hands so they could walk down the rest of the stairs. When they reached the gate, the Doctor got out his sonic and used it on the padlock. He then pulled open the gate and they entered the abandoned hospital.


	15. Albion Hospital

The pair walked through a darkened ward where rows and rows of patents lay on beds, completely lifeless and still wearing gas masks. “Strange”, Freya commented quietly looking at them as she passed. The Doctor agreed with her, it was rather strange. They entered yet another ward, unlike the previous one it was dimly lit. It too had numerous people on beds wearing gasmasks. The Doctor and Freya turned when they heard a noise behind them. An older man wearing a white doctor’s coat entered the ward.

“You'll find them everywhere. In every bed, in every ward. Hundreds of them”, the man said.

“Yes, I saw. Why are they still wearing gas masks?” the Doctor asked.

“They're not”, the man replied “Who are you?”

“You doctor?” Freya asked him.

“Doctor Constantine. And you are?”

“Nancy sent us”, the Doctor said.

Dr Constantine’s eyes widened at his answer “Nancy? That means you must've been asking about the bomb”, he said.

“Yes”, the Doctor confirmed.

“What do you know about it?” Doctor Constantine asked walking slowly over to a chair, leaning heavily on his cane as he did so.

“Nothing. Why we were asking”, the Doctor replied “What do you know?”

“Only what it's done”, Constantine said vaguely.

“These people, they were all caught up in the blast?” the Doctor asked looking at the patients.

“None of them were” Doctor Constantine laughs slightly but it turns into a nasty cough. He sits down at the chair by the desk he’d just walked to. 

“You're sick”, Freya said sympathetically.

“Dying, I should think” Constantine corrected her “I just haven't been able to find the time. Are either of you a doctor?”

“I have my moments”, the Doctor replied. Doctor Constantine then told him to examine any one of the patients warning him not to touch the flesh. The Doctor went to a random patient and scanned him with his sonic. 

“Conclusions?” Doctor Constantine asked.

“Massive head trauma, mostly to the left side…” the Doctor ran his screwdriver over the patient’s chest “Partial collapse of the chest cavity, mostly to the right. There's some scarring on the back of the hand and the gas mask seems to be fused to the flesh, but I can't see any burns”

“Examine another one”, Doctor Constantine instructed and the Doctor did so. He found that the other patient had the same symptoms, gasmask fused to the face and a scar on the back of the hand. The Doctor turns his screwdriver off and turned to Doctor Constantine.

“This isn't possible” the Time Lord goes to another bed and the results are the same. “They've all got the same injuries”, he said thoroughly confused.

Doctor Constantine nodded “Yes”

The Doctor rushed over to another patient and got the same results yet again “Exactly the same”, he said still very confused. How was that even possible?

 “Yes”, doctor Constantine repeated.

“Identical, all of them” the Doctor continued “right down to the scar on the back of the hand”.

Freya looked at the scar, mentally noting the fact that the scar was the same as the one the boy had. “How it happen?” she questioned.

“When that bomb dropped, there was just one victim”, Constantine said.

“Dead?” the Doctor asked.

“At first. His injuries were truly dreadful. By the following morning, every doctor and nurse who had treated him, who had touched him, had those exact same injuries. By the morning after that, every patient in the same ward, the exact same injuries. Within a week, the entire hospital” _bloody hell! This thing, whatever it is works fast_ Freya thought worriedly “Physical injuries as plague. Can you explain that? What would you say was the cause of death?”

“The head trauma”, the Doctor guessed.

“No”, Constantine shook his head.

“Asphyxiation”, the Doctor said trying again.

“No”

“The collapse of the chest cavity…”

“No”

“All right. What was the cause of death?” the Doctor asked. He’d just listed off all the things that these people had but Constantine still told him ‘no’. So what was the cause of death then?

 “There wasn't one. They're not dead” Dr Constantine said. He hit a waste basket with his cane, the noise making all the patients sit up in their beds. The Doctor pulled Freya behind him ready to protect her against the gas masked people. “It's all right. They're harmless”, Dr Constantine assured him “They just sort of sit there. No heartbeat, no life signs of any kind. They just don't die”

“And they've just been left here? Nobody's doing anything?” the Doctor asked. Freya moved to stand beside the Doctor as the patients laid down on the beds.

“I try and make them comfortable” Constantine replied “What else is there?”

“All on your own? Isn’t there anyone else to help you?” Freya asked him.

Constantine shook his head “no. I’m the last one left” he replied “Before this war began, I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither. But I'm still a doctor”

The Doctor could relate to Doctor Constantine. He too once had a family but they were gone now as where the rest of his people. “Yeah. I know the feeling”, he said. Freya took his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze to let him know that he wasn’t alone now. He had her. The Doctor looked at her and she gave him a small smile. The Time Lord returned it.

“I suspect the plan is to blow up the hospital and blame it on a German bomb”, Constantine told them.

“Probably too late”, the Doctor said gesturing to the beds.

“No. They are isolated cases. But… isolated cases breaking out all over London…” Constantine broke off coughing. The Doctor took several steps towards him “Stay back, stay back” Constantine warned him while coughing “Listen to me... Top floor. Room 802. That's where they took the first victim, the one from the crash site. And you must find Nancy again”.

“Why?” Freya asked

“It was her brother. She knows more than she's saying. She won't tell me… but she might mi…mi…” Doctor Constantine gags and clutches his neck “m…mu…me…”

Both the Doctor and Freya watched concerned as speech as becoming more difficult for Doctor Constantine “Are… you… my mum-my?” Freya’s eyes widened horrified as part of a gasmask started to protrude from Doctor Constantine’s mouth. She turned away unable to watch. 

“It’s ok Freya. Its over”, the Doctor said when the gasmask had completely fused to the man’s face. She looked back at Doctor Constantine who was slumped over in the chair.

“That was horrible”, the Time Lady shuddered. The Doctor was about to say something when they heard a Rose and an American man call out hello. The pair went out into the corridor to find the blonde teen walking up with a dark haired man wearing a soldier’s uniform typical of that time period.

“Good evening”, the man greeted cheerfully “Hope we're not interrupting. Jack Harkness. I've been hearing all about the both of you on the way over”, Jack shaking the Doctor’s hand.

“He knows about us being Time Agents”, Rose said to the Doctor and Freya. The Doctor nods knowing to play along while the Time Lady looked at Rose confused. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr Spock”, Jack said patting the Doctor heartily on the shoulder. “And let me guess this is the lovely Freya”, he added turning his attention to the Time Lady.

“That be me”, she confirmed. The blonde was extremely surprised when Jack reached out, took her hand and lightly kissed the back of it.

“ _Very_ nice to meet you”, Jack said making the Doctor frown at his flirtatious tone. How dare he flirt with HIS soulmate! He gently tugged Freya back, putting her firmly behind him.

“I suggest you stop with that tone otherwise we’re going to have a problem”, the Doctor warned Jack.

The man put his hands up “Ok, got the message loud and clear. No need for any violence, we’re all Time Agents here”, he said and with that he skirted around the Time Lord, heading up the hallway.

“You ok?” Freya asked the Doctor wondering if there was something wrong due to the way he acted towards Jack.

“I’m fine”, he assured her. Freya nodded but was a little unsure whether to believe him. She cast a glance at Rose.

 “Where you go?” she asked “1941 dangerous”.

“I know”, Rose said “got a birds eye view from a barrage balloon. Only way to see an air raid”. Freya looked at her confused. The Doctor just rolled his eyes. That was just typical. This former companion of his was setting a new record for jeopardy-friendly. “Listen, what's a Chula warship?” Rose asked the Time Lord and Lady.

“Chula?” the pair chorused.

\------------------------------------------

“This just isn't possible. How did this happen?” Jack said scanning one of the patients with the device on his wrist.

“What kind of Chula warship landed here?” the Doctor asked.

“Does it matter?” Jack asked, agitated “It's got nothing to do with this”.

“This started at the bomb site. It’s got everything to with it. What kind of warship?” the Doctor said angrily.

“An ambulance!” Jack turns on his wrist device to show the three of them a hologram of the ambulance “That's what you chased through the Time Vortex. Its space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you. Saw your time travel vehicle, love the retro look, by the way, nice panels. Threw you the bait…”

“Bait?” Rose cut in.

“I wanted to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found out it was junk”, Jack continued.

“You said it was a _war ship_ ”, Rose reminded him.

“They have ambulances in wars”, Jack told her “It was a con. I was conning you because I thought you were Time Agents. But you’re not are you?” Jack asked.

“More like three freelancers”, Rose admitted.

“Ahh…should’ve have known. The way you guys are blending in with the local colour”, Jack said “I mean Flag Girl was bad enough, But U-Boat Captain?” the Doctor and Rose looked uncomfortably at their clothes “even Cinderella doesn’t blend in” Jack added gesturing to Freya.

The Time Lady glanced down at herself “Cinderella?” she asked “that bad?”

“No, it’s not”, the Doctor quickly said, “its good actually”.

“Really?” Freya asked.

“Absolutely”, the Doctor said confidently earning a smile from the Time Lady.  The Time Lord’s hearts warmed at her smile and he’d do anything to make sure that it never faded. His soulmate was meant to be happy…safe and protected. And he was going to spend the rest of his lives making sure that happened.

The Time Lady turned her attention to the gas-masked people. What happening here?” she asked nodding to them.

“Human DNA is being rewritten… by an idiot”, the Doctor replied glaring at Jack.

“Why change?” Freya questioned “what the point?”

“I don’t know Freya but that’s a very good question”, the Doctor said.

Suddenly all the patients sit up in the beds. “What happening?” Freya asked as all the patients started calling mummy.

“I don't know”, the Doctor said. The four of them started backing up as Doctor Constantine stood along with the patients.

“Don't let them touch you”, the Doctor warned as the gas-masked people closed in on them.

“What happens if they touch us?” Jack asked.

“That happen”, Freya answered nodding to the patients. They continued to advance on the Time Lords and two humans, who’ve now been backed against a wall. Freya takes the Doctor’s hand as they get surrounded by gas-masked people who were still calling out mummy.

**To be continued…**


	16. Soniced up

“Go to your room”, the Doctor said when the patients where within touching distance. The patients stand still. “Go to your room!” the Doctor commanded again. They watched all the patients tilt their heads in unison “I mean it! I'm very, very angry with you. I am very, very cross! Go… to… your… room!” the Doctor shouted pointing with his free hand in no particular direction. They all relaxed when the patients hung their heads and moved away from them, back to their respective beds.

“Glad that worked”, Freya muttered. The Doctor put an arm around her, as he felt her trembling.

“They would’ve been terrible last words, right?” he asked, trying to get a smile from her.

The Time Lady cracked a small smile “Yeah. Terrible”, she agreed.

“How was your con supposed to work?” the Doctor asked Jack.

“Simple enough, really. Find some harmless piece of space junk…let the nearest Time Agent track it back to Earth, convince him it's valuable, name a price”, Jack explained “When he's put 50% up front, oops! A German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever. He never gets to see what he's paid for, never knows he's been had. I buy him a drink with his own money, and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con”.

“Yeah. Perfect”, the Doctor said sarcastically.

“The London Blitz is great for self-cleaners. Pompeii's nice if you want to make a vacation of it though, but you've got to set your alarm for volcano day” Jack laughed at his own joke. Both the Doctor and Freya looked at him clearly not impressed. “Getting a hint of disapproval”.

“Take a look around the room. This is what your ‘harmless piece of space-junk’ did”, the Doctor said gesturing around the room.

“It was a burnt-out medical transporter, it was empty”, Jack insisted. The Doctor looked at him darkly and walked off.

“Rose, Freya”, he said as he passed the pair.

“We getting out of here?” Rose asked, she and Freya following after him.

“We’re going upstairs”, the Doctor corrected.

“I even programmed the flight computer so it wouldn't land on anything living. I harmed no-one. I don't know what's happening here, but believe me, I had nothing to do with it”, Jack called, getting up and hurried after the trio.

The Doctor stopped and turn to him “I'll tell you what's happening. You forgot to set your alarm clock. Its volcano day”, he said angrily.

A siren went off in the distance “What's that?” Rose asked looking up.

“The All Clear”, Jack replied.

“I wish”, the Doctor muttered.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Mr Spock?” Jack called as he and Rose ran along the corridor, looking for the Time Lords. Somehow they’d lost them.

“Doctor? Freya?” Rose said loudly. They passed by a set of stairs where the Doctor popped his head around the banister.

“You have a blaster?” he asked Jack.

“Sure!” the American answered. He and Rose headed up the stairs to join the Doctor and Freya. The four of them walked up the rest together, coming to a stop outside a secure metal door.

“The night your space-junk landed, someone was hurt”, the Doctor told Jack “this was where they were taken”.

“What happened?” Rose asked.

“Lets find out”, the Doctor replied. To Jack, he said “Get it open”.

Jack grinned and points his blaster at the door. “What’s wrong with your sonic screwdriver?” Rose asked the Time Lord quietly.

“Nothing”, the Doctor answered.

The Time Lords and the blonde human watched Jack cut a perfect square hole around the lock on the door and it squeaks open. “Sonic blaster, 51st century”, the Doctor stated eyeing it “weapon factories of Villengard?”

“You've been to the factories?” Jack asked.

The Doctor took the blaster from Jack to have a look at it “Once”, he replied.

“Well, they gone now, destroyed. The main reactor went critical. Vaporized the lot”, Jack explained.

The Doctor gave the blaster back “Like I said, once. There's a banana grove there, now. I like bananas. Bananas are good” he smiled pleasantly at the man and walked into the room, Freya following. He flicked on the light to reveal a vandalized room. Filing cabinets tipped over, electronic equipment broken. The observation window across the room was smashed.

“ _What d’you think?_ ” the Doctor asked to the Time Lady. Jack glanced at Rose, confused.

“He’s talking in their native language”, Rose told him quietly “he does it sometimes”.

“ _Something got out_ ”, she answered “ _powerful…angry”._

Jack entered through the open door that lead to the room behind the broken observation window. The walls and floors were covered with child’s drawings. “A child? That explains ‘mummy’”, Jack said.

“How could a child do this?” Rose asked joining him in the room. The Doctor turned on a tape machine while Freya wandered into the room. She smiled at the child’s drawings, taped to the walls. She used to do a lot of drawing herself when she was younger.

 _“Do you know where you are?”_ Doctor Constantine asked

 _“Are you my mummy?”_ the little boy asked.

 _“Are you aware of what's around you? Can you see?”_ Constantine questioned.

 _“Are you my mummy?”_ the boy repeated.

_“What do you want? Do you know…”_

_“I want my mummy. Are you my mummy? I want my mummy! Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy? Mummy? Mummy?_ ”

“Doctor, I’ve heard this voice before”, Rose said recognising it.

“So have we”, the Doctor said.

 _“Mummy?_ ”

“Always ‘are you my mummy?’ Like he doesn't know”, she continued.

_“Mummy?”_

“Why doesn't he know?” Rose asked voicing the question on all their minds. Freya looked from picture to picture. The woman labelled as ‘mummy’ had dark hair…kind of like Nancy’s. As she looked at the drawings, Doctor Constantine’s voice echoing in her mind.

_And you must find Nancy again…it was her brother…_

What if Nancy was not the boy’s big sister? What if she was in fact his mother? That would definitely explain ‘mummy’ and why she seemed to know more that she cared to admit.

“Can you sense it?” the Doctor asked, now pacing around the child’s room.

“Sense what?” Jack asked.

“Coming out of the walls. Can you feel it?” the Doctor questioned.

“A little”, Freya answered. Something about this room didn’t feel too friendly despite its childlike appearance.

_“Mummy?”_

The Doctor stopped pacing and looked at Rose and Jack. “Funny little human brains, how do you get around in those things?” he asked.  

“When he’s stressed he liked to insult the species”, Rose said to Jack.

“Rose, I’m thinking”, the Doctor all but snapped.

“Cuts himself shaving, does half an hour in life forms he’s cleverer than…” Rose was cut off when the Doctor spoke again.

“There are children living rough around the bomb site. They come out during the air-raids looking for food”

_“Mummy, please?”_

“Suppose, they were there when this thing, whatever it was, landed?” the Doctor asked.

“It was a med-ship. It was harmless”, Jack insisted.

“You keep saying that”, Freya remarked.

“She’s right, you do”, the Doctor agreed “Suppose one of them was affected, altered?”

“Altered how?” Rose questioned.

“I’m here!” the child called.

“It’s afraid. Terribly afraid, and powerful. It doesn’t know it yet, but it will do”, the Doctor let out a small laugh.

“What so funny?” Freya asked.

“The child has got a the power of a god…and I just sent it to its room”, the Doctor replied.

A loud crackling noise filled the room. “Doctor…what is that noise?” Freya asked shifting closer to him, the noise unsettling her somewhat.

“The end of the tape”, the Doctor answered “it ran out 30 seconds ago”.

“I’m here, now. Can’t you see me?” the child asked loudly.

“I sent it to its room”, the Doctor continued “this IS its room”. The Time Lord spun around and saw the young boy standing by the tape machine.

“Are you my mummy?” the child asked cocking his head to one side, considering Freya.

“On my signal make for the door. Now!” Jack produces a banana from his belt and points it at the child like a weapon. The Doctor grins and pulled the sonic blaster from his own belt. He used it on the wall and ushered Freya and Rose through.

“Don't drop the banana!” the Doctor said to Jack as he hopped through.

“Why not?!” Jack questioned as he followed the Time Lord.

“Good source of potassium!”

Jack snatched his blaster back from the Doctor and repaired the wall. “Digital rewind” he explained. Jack then tossed the banana at the Doctor who caught it “Nice switch”

“It's from the groves of Villengard. I thought it was appropriate”, the Doctor stated.

The child thumped on the wall on the other side, making it crack. They hurried along the corridor and down a flight of stairs. They didn’t make it very far until they encountered gas-masked patients bursting out of the ward calling mummy. The four of them hastily backtracked but they find another group of gas-masked patients. Jack, Freya, Rose and the Doctor found themselves back at the wall where the child was trying to break through. “It's keeping us here till it can get at us”, the Doctor said. 

“It's controlling them?” Jack asked pointing his blaster at every direction.

“It _is_ them”, the Doctor corrected “It's every living thing in this hospital”. He was not liking this situation at all. His Soulmate was in the middle of a dangerous situation. He had to get the Time Lady out of the hospital, fast!

“Okay. This can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and as a triple-enfolded sonic disrupter”. Jack said listing off features of his gun “Doc, what you got?”

The Doctor got out his sonic screwdriver from his pocket “I've got a sonic, er… Oh, never mind”, he said.

“What?” Jack asked.

“It's sonic, okay? Let's leave it at that” the Doctor said turning to face the second group of gas-masked people turning his sonic on and pointing it at them. He reached back, tugging Freya even further behind him. He wasn’t too bothered about Rose’s safety but his Soulmate’s safety was his top priority.

“Disrupter? Cannon? What?” Jack pressed.

“It's sonic! Totally sonic! I am soniced up!” the Doctor said loudly.

“A sonic what?!” Jack demanded.

“Screwdriver!” the Doctor shouted.

Jack turned to him as the child breaks through the wall. Rose grabbed Jack’s wrist and makes him point his blaster at the floor. “Going down!” she warns before firing the weapon.

The quartet fell through the hole and landed in a messy heap. Jack quickly got to his feet and used his sonic blaster to repair the ceiling. “You ok?” the Doctor asked the Time Lady as he helped her to her feet.

“Yeah”, Freya answered.

“Could’ve used a warning”, he said to Rose.

“Ugh the gratitude”, Rose grumbled.

“She did just save our lives”, Freya spoke up “Thank you, Rose”.

“You’re welcome”, Rose said, happy that at least the Time Lady was grateful for what she just did.

“Who has a sonic screwdriver?” Jack asked.

“I do”, the Doctor said defensively.

“Light!” Rose said looking around for a light switch in the ward they’d fallen into.

“Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, ‘ooo, this could be a little more sonic?’” Jack said sarcastically.

“What, you've never been bored?” the Doctor said indignantly “Never had a long night? Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?”

“Do _you_ have a sonic?” Jack asked Freya. She shook her head.

“No, I don’t”, she said.

Rose managed to find the light switch and turned the lights on. The patients is the beds sat up and started calling mummy.

“Door”, Jack said and the group ran towards it. The American tried to blast the door open but the weapon doesn’t work. He moved back to allow the Doctor to open the door with his sonic.

“It's the special features. They really drain the battery”, Jack said annoyed that his gun no longer worked. The Doctor got the door open and the they hurried through. “I was going to send for another one, but somebody's got to blow up the factory”, Jack grumbled looking at the Doctor who was locking the door with the sonic.

“Okay, that door should hold it for a bit”, the Doctor said.

“The door? The wall didn't stop it!” Jack exclaimed.

“Well it’s got to find us first”, the Doctor pointed out “Come on, we're not done yet! Assets, assets!”

“Well, I've got a banana, and in a pinch you could put up some shelves”, Jack said leaning on the wall.

“Window”, the Doctor said going to it.

“Barred, Sheer drop outside. Seven stories”, Jack replied.

“And no other exits”, the Doctor stated.

“Well, the assets conversation went in a flash, didn't it?” Jack commented settling himself comfortably in a chair.

“We’ll figure something out, right?” Freya asked looking at the Doctor.

“Of course we will”, the Doctor agreed. He turned to Rose “So, where'd you pick this one up, then?” he asked, nodding to Jack.

“Doctor…” Rose said warningly.

“She was hanging from a barrage balloon, I had an invisible spaceship. I never stood a chance”, Jack said. Rose stood there looking rather uncomfortable.

 “Ok, one, we've got to get out of here”, the Doctor stated “Two, we can't get out of here. Have I missed anything?”

Freya looked in Jack’s direction and was surprised to see that he was gone “Yeah…Jack just disappeared”. The Doctor spun around to see that the chair Jack once sat in was empty.


	17. Mother knows best

“Okay, so he's vanished into thin air. Why is it always the great looking ones who do that?” Rose asked.

The Doctor who was now sitting in a chair, gave her a look. “I’m making an effort not to be insulted”, he said.

“I mean…men”, Rose said waving her hand dismissively.

“Ok, thanks. That really helped”, the Doctor said, smiling sarcastically.

“I don’t think you should be insulted”, Freya spoke up “I think you’re nice looking”.  The Time Lord glanced over at the blonde Time Lady and smiled.

“Thanks”, he said. He wasn’t a vain person but he was glad that his Soulmate thought he was nice looking. Suddenly an old radio in the room suddenly crackled to life. “Freya? Rose? Doctor? Can you hear me?” Jack called. The Doctor went over to it, Freya and Rose following him “I'm back on my ship” the Doctor picked up the radio “Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn't take you” the Time Lord stared in confusion at the torn wires of the radio “It's security-keyed to my molecular structure. I'm working on it. Hang in there”.

“How are you speaking to us?” Freya asked also a little confused. It shouldn’t be possible for him to talk to them through the radio. The wires weren’t even connected.

“Om-Com”, Jack replied “I can call anything with a speaker grill”.

“Now there's a coincidence”, the Doctor muttered “The child can Om-Com, too”.

“It can?” Rose asked surprised.

“Anything with a speaker grille”, Freya told her “the TARDIS phone…radio…toy monkey…” she listed off.

“What you mean the child can phone us?” Rose questioned, starting to get worried.

“And I can hear you. Coming to find you. Coming to fiiiind you”, the child spoke in a sing song voice through the radio.

“Doctor, can you hear that?” Jack asked.

“Loud and clear”, the Doctor replied.

“I'll try to block out the signal. Least I can do”, Jack said.

“Coming to find you, mummy!” the child cheered.

 “Remember this one, Rose?” Jack asked and then _Moonlight Serenade_ began to play.

“Our song”, Rose said quietly embarrassed as the Time Lords turn to look at her questioningly.

“Is it normal to have a song with someone when you’ve only just met them?” Freya asked, confused.

“Not really”, the Doctor answered only serving to make Rose even more embarrassed. The blonde shuffled over to a wheelchair and sat down. The Doctor went over the to wall near the window and took out his sonic.

“What are you doing?” Freya asked watching him hold his sonic to the wall, the tip lighting up with a blue light and letting out a buzzing sound.

“Trying to set up a resonation pattern in the concrete”, he replied “loosen the bars”. Freya could see the logic in his method. Getting the right frequency would do exactly what he was hoping to achieve but there was one drawback…

“How are we going to climb down from the window?” she asked “Jack said it’s a sheer drop and we’re 7 stories up”.

“I’ll think of something Freya, don’t worry”, the Doctor assured her.

“You don’t think he’s coming back, do ya?” Rose questioned.

“Wouldn’t bet my life”, the Doctor replied.

“Why don’t you trust him?” Rose pressed.

“Why do you?” the Doctor countered.

“Saved my life”, Rose answered.

“That’s a good reason”, Freya remarked “the Doctor saved my life and I trust him completely”. The Doctor, having heard this, smiled to himself. The Time Lady listened to the music that was still playing on the radio. “You know, this _is_ a nice tune”, she commented, swaying on the spot. Rose watched Freya start to dance, the skirt of the blue dress flaring out as she did so.

“Nice moves”, Rose said.

“Thanks but dancing wasn’t really my strength at the academy”, Freya admitted.

“Maybe you just need someone to teach you” Rose’s eyes flickered over to the Doctor “Doctor can you dance?” she asked “or does the universe implode or something if you do?”

“Well, I’ve got the moves but I wouldn’t want to boast”, the Doctor said off handedly.

Rose got up from the wheelchair and went over to the radio, turning the volume up. “You got the moves?” she asked “show Freya your moves”.

“Oh, you don’t need to do that”, Freya said quickly “you’ve got concrete to resonate”.

“I’m sure the Doctor could spare a couple of minutes”, Rose said walking towards them.

“Rose, she’s right”, the Doctor said as Rose took Freya’s hand, reaching for his with her free one. The Time Lord frowned when he noticed the Rose’s palm was free of rope burns “Barrage balloon?” he asked earning a confused look from both females.

“Sorry?” Rose asked, confused.

“You were hanging from a barrage balloon”, The Doctor elaborated.

“That happened about two minutes after you two left me”, Rose told him “thousands of feet above London, middle of a German air raid, Union Jack all over my chest”.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows “I’ve travelled with a lot of people, but you’re setting new records for jeopardy-friendly”, he remarked. Freya took her hand out of Rose’s only to examine the skin.

“How did you manage to hang from a rope without getting any cuts or burns?” she queried.

“Yeah, I know. Captain Jack fixed me up”, Rose explained.

“Oh, we’re calling Captain Jack are we?” the Doctor teased.

“Well, his name's Jack and he's a Captain…” Rose began when the Doctor cut in with

“He's not really a Captain, Rose”

“Do you know what I think? I think you're experiencing Captain Envy” Rose said.

“Why would you be experiencing ‘Captain Envy’?” Freya asked, confused.

“I’m not Freya”, the Doctor said “and if ever he was a Captain, he's been defrocked”, the Doctor remarked.

Rose smiled “Yeah? Shame I missed that”, she said.

“Actually, I quit. Nobody takes my frock”, Jack said. The time travelling trio looked around in surprise. They were no longer in the storeroom. “Sorry about the delay”, Jack apologised “I had to take the nav-com offline to override the teleport security”.

“You can spend ten minutes overriding your own protocols?” the Doctor scoffed “maybe you should remember who’s ship it is”.

“Oh, I do. She was _gorgeous_. Like I told her, be back in five minutes” Jack ducked into a compartment under the console.

“This is a Chula ship”, the Doctor said looking around.

“Yeah, just like that medical transporter. Only this one is dangerous”, Jack called from the compartment. The Doctor snaps his fingers and the golden glow envelopes his hands.

“They're what fixed my hands up Jack called them um…” Rose trailed off as she tried to recall what Jack had called them.

“Nanogenes”, Freya said eyeing the small golden specks dancing around the Doctor’s hands.

“Sub atomic robots”, the Doctor elaborated “there’s millions of them in here, you see? Burned my hand on the console when we landed – all better now. They activate when the bulk head’s sealed. Check you out for damage, fix any physical flaws”. The Time Lord banishes the nanogenes with a wave of his hand and turns to Jack “take us to the crash site. I need to see your space junk”.

“As soon as I get the nav-com back online”, Jack said as if he was being nagged.

“Would it help it you had an extra pair of hands?” Freya offered.

“It would help a lot”, Jack said. The Time Lady moved forward and sat in the co pilot’s seat.

“We’ll work as quick as we can”, she said to the Doctor and Rose.

\------------

“…so you used to be a Time Agent, now you’re trying to con them?” Rose asked as she watched Freya work on the ships controls. Jack had started to work with her until she decided to take over.  

“If it makes me sound any better, its not for the money”, Jack said.

“What’s it for then?” Freya asked, inspecting two wires before she put it back into the exposed part of the console.

“Woke up one day when I was working for them, found they’d stolen 2 years of my memories”, Jack explained “I like to get them back”.

“They _stole_ your memories?” Rose asked feeling almost sorry for the American.

“2 years of my life. No idea what I did”, Jack continued. Freya’s hands stilled in her work. Jack wanted to get back some stolen memories and she had some that she’d rather forget…

“Hey, you ok?” Rose asked seeing the look on the Time Lady’s face.

“Yeah I’m fine”, Freya answered and continued with her work. The Doctor may not have seen her face but he knew Jack’s words had somehow affected her. She put panel back onto the exposed part of the console, fiddled with some controls and the computer bleeps. “Done”, she said.

“You’re good”, Jack commented.

“Thanks. This is child’s play compared to the stuff back home”, Freya said.

“What kind of things did you work on?” the Doctor asked, interested. He knew very little about Freya and what he did know was about her preferences to human food…historical periods and pop culture. He was ashamed to say that he had no idea what kind of life she had on Gallifrey. They never discussed it. The only thing he did know was that she used to have a niece called Aya.

So now that Freya had mentioned their home, this was a good opportunity to learn more about his Soulmate. “Oh, this and that”, Freya said vaguely “so, shall we go see this ‘space junk’?” she asked, changing the subject. In any other situation she would’ve loved to have talked about her life on Gallifrey, but the Time War was still too fresh in her mind…she couldn’t share too much for fear of thinking about the war.

~bomb site~

The Doctor, Freya, Rose and Jack peer over the barbed wire at the soldiers on duty. “There it is” Jack spotted Algy pacing up and down “Hey, they've got Algy on duty. It must be important”.

“We've got to get past”, the Doctor stated. 

“The word ‘distract the guard’ head in my general direction”, Rose said.

“I don't think that'd be such a good idea”, Jack said shaking his head.

“Don’t worry…I can handle it”, Rose assured him.

“I’ve got to know Algy quite well since I’ve been in town. Trust me. You’re not his type. Don’t wait up”, The Doctor, Rose and Freya watched as Jack walked over to Algy. “Hey, tiger. How's it hanging?” Jack called.

“Mummy?” Algy asked.

“Algy, old sport, it's me”, Jack said starting to get confused.

“Mummy?” Algy repeated.

Jack’s smile faded when he realised that something was wrong with the man “It's me, _Jack_ ”

“Jack?” Algy tilts his head, observing Jack with child-like curiosity “Are you my…mummy?”

The Doctor, Rose Freya hurry over when Algy’s face turned into a gas mask “The effect's become air-borne, accelerating”, the Time Lord stated.

“What's keeping us safe?” Rose asked worried about that new development.

“Nothing”, the Doctor replied.

An air-raid siren sounded and Jack looked up “Ah, here they come again”, he said.

“Didn't you say a bomb was going to land…here?” Rose asked worriedly.

“Never mind about that. If the contaminants airborne now, there's hours left”, the Doctor told her.

“For what?” Jack asked.

‘Til nothing. ‘Til forever. For the entire human race”, the Doctor said seriously.

“Can anyone else hear singing?” Freya asked suddenly, her ears having picked up a fait tune.

“Yes, I can”, the Doctor replied. They followed the singing to a small shed. Inside was Nancy who was singing to a transformed soldier. The Doctor quickly freed her from the handcuffs and then Jack led them to the med-ship.

“You see? Just an ambulance”, Jack said nodding to it.

“That's an ambulance?” Nancy asked eyeing it.

“It’s from another world”, Rose told her.

“They've been trying to get in”, Jack said looking at the controls, noting the scratches on it.

“Of course they have”, the Doctor said rolling his eyes. They weren’t exactly going to leave it alone where they? “They think they've got their hands on Hitler's latest secret weapon….” Jack started pressing buttons on the keypad “What're you doing?” he asked the man.

“The sooner you see this thing is empty” Jack said, still pressing buttons “the sooner you'll know I had nothing to do with it” the controls explode with sparks and they all jump backwards. “Didn't happen last time”, he said.

“It hadn't crashed last time. They’re the emergency protocols”, the Doctor told him as an alarm blared.

“What is that?” Rose asked nodding to a flashing red light on the control panel.

“That is signalling that the emergency protocols have been activated”, Freya told her. Suddenly the gates at the other side of the bomb site started shaking.

“Captain, secure those gates!” the Time Lord ordered.

“Why?” Jack asked.

“Just do it!” the Doctor shouted. Jack nodded, clambered down from the ambulance and ran over to the open gates. The Time Lord turned to Nancy, “how'd you get in here?” he asked.

“I cut the wire”, Nancy replied. 

“Show Rose” he tossed his sonic to the teenager in question who caught it “Setting 2,428D”.

“What?” Rose asked confused.

“It reattaches barbed wire”, the Doctor answered “Go!” The Time Lords watched Rose leave with Nancy.

It was about a minute or two before Jack came back and opened the hatch of the med-ship. “It's empty”, he said “Look at it”.  

“What do you expect in a Chula medical transporter?” the Doctor asked as Rose and Nancy joined them “Bandages? Cough drops?”

“Nanogenes”, Freya answered.

“It wasn't empty, Captain. There was enough nanogenes in there to rebuild a species”, the Doctor informed Jack.

The American paled, rather shaken by that fact. It really was all his fault “Oh, God”, he breathed.

“Getting it now, are we? When the ship crashes, the nanogenes escape. Billions upon billions of them, ready to fix all the cuts and bruises in the whole world” the Doctor explained “But what they find first is a dead child, probably killed earlier that night, and wearing a gasmask”.

“And they brought him back to life? They can do that?” Rose asked.

“Yes they can. That’s an easy thing to achieve for a nanogene”, Freya stated.

“One problem, though. These nanogenes, they're not like the ones on your ship”, the Doctor added “This lot have never seen a human being before. Don't know what a human being's supposed to look like. All they've got to go on is one little body, and there's not a lot left. But they carry right on. They do what they're programmed to do. They patch it up. Can't tell what's gasmask and what's skull, but they do their best. Then off they fly, off they go, work to be done. Because, you see, now they think they know what people should look like, and it's time to fix all the rest. And they won't ever stop. They won't ever, ever stop. The entire human race is going to be torn down and rebuilt in the form of one terrified child looking for its mother, and nothing in the world can stop it!”

“I didn't know”, Jack said defiantly although his was still rather shaken. The Doctor fixed him with a cold stare for a few seconds before turning to examine the med-ship.

Rose watched him work until, she noticed Nancy staring at something, looking terrified. She rushed to her side and saw what was making her so afraid, the gas masked people were coming their way. She took Nancy’s hand and led her back to the Doctor, Freya and Jack. “Those gasmask people are coming!” she told them.

“The ship thinks it's under attack. It's calling up the troops. Standard protocol”, the Doctor explained looking up from his work.

“But…the gas mask people aren't troops…” Rose frowned.

“They are now” the Doctor corrected her “This is a battle-field ambulance. The nanogenes don't just fix you up, they get you ready for the front line. Equip you, programme you…”

“That's why the child's so strong. Why it could Om-Com”, Freya finished.

“It's a fully equipped Chula warrior, yes” the Doctor nodded “All that weapons tech in the hands of a hysterical four year old looking for his mummy. And now there's an army of them”.

The gasmask people surround the fence. “Why don't they attack?” Jack asked eyeing them.

 “Good little soldiers, waiting for their commander”, the Doctor replied.

“The child?” Jack asked.

“Jamie”, Nancy corrected him.

“So how long until the bomb falls?” Freya asked Jack.

“Any second”, he answered looking up worriedly.

“What's the matter, Captain?” the Doctor looked at Jack “A bit close to the volcano for you?”

“He's just a little boy”, Nancy breathed.

“I know”, the Doctor said softly.

“He's just a little boy who wants his mummy”, Nancy said tearing up. Freya watched her reaction and knew that her theory about Nancy being the boy’s mother was right.

“Nancy…you’re his mother, aren’t you?” the Time Lady asked carefully. Nancy nodded tearfully.

“Doctor, that bomb. We've got seconds”, Jack warned as bombs landed nearby.

“So it's volcano day” the Doctor stated “Do what you've got to do”. The former Time Agent vanished.

The gate opens and Jamie stands there “Are you my mummy?” he asked.

“He's going to keep asking, Nancy. He's never going to stop”, the Doctor said.

“Mummy?” Jamie asked again.

“Go on Nancy”, Freya gently urged. Nancy nodded and walked forward as does her son. 

“Are you my mummy?”

“Yes, I am your mummy”, Nancy told him.

“Mummy?”

“I'm here”, Nancy said stopping inches away from him.

“Are you my mummy?”

“I'm here”, she repeated kneeling down in front of Jamie.

“Are you my mummy?”

“I am your mummy. I will always be your mummy. I'm so sorry. I am so, so sorry”, Nancy said sincerely, tears in her eyes. The young woman then took the boy into his arms and a cloud of Nanogenes surround them.

“Come on, please. Come on, you clever little Nanogenes. Figure it out!” the Doctor urged “The mother, she's the mother. It's got to be enough information. Figure it out”.

Nancy fell away from Jamie as the nanogenes disappeared. Freya, Rose and the Doctor rush over. “Oh, come on. Give me a day like this”, the Time Lord said hardly daring to hope “Give me this one”. He removes Jamie’s gas mask, revealing a little boy underneath. He laughed ecstatically picking the boy up “Ha-ha! Welcome back! Twenty years till pop music - you're going to love it”.

“What happened?” Nancy asked looking at her son in wonder.

“The Nanogenes recognised the superior information, the parent DNA. They didn't change you because you changed them!” the Doctor explained, still grinning.

“Mother knows best”, Freya said with a big smile on her face, eyes shining with tears of happiness. This was the kind of thing she loved to see. A happy ending.

“Oh, Jamie”, Nancy said happily as the Doctor set him down on the ground. She hugged him again. A bomb fell nearby bringing them back to reality.

“Doctor, that bomb…” Rose said.

“Taken care of it”, the Doctor assured his companion.

“How?” she asked.

“Psychology”, he replied gesturing at Nancy and Jamie.

The bomb hurtles towards them and is suddenly stopped when it got caught by a blue force field. A moment later, Jack appeared sitting astride the bomb. “Doctor!” he called down to him.

“Good lad!”

“The bomb's already commenced detonation. I've put it in stasis but it won't last long”, Jack explained.

“Change of plan. Don't need the bomb. Can you get rid of it, safely as you can?” the Doctor asked.

Jack nodded and bid Rose farewell. They then all watched Jack’s ship fly away. “What are you doing?” Rose asked as the Doctor summoned the nanogenes.

“Software patch. Going to email the upgrade”, the Doctor replied “you want moves Rose? I’ll give you moves”. He threw the nanogenes away, towards the gas mask people. He grinned as they all fell to the ground, nanogenes surrounding them. “Everybody lives!” he hugged Freya, tightly “Just this once, everybody lives!” the Doctor said ecstatically. The Doctor let her go and ran over to Doctor Constantine. “Doctor Constantine. Who never left his patients. Back on your feet, constant doctor. The world doesn't want to get by without you just yet, and I don't blame it one bit” the Doctor gestured to the former gas masked people “These are your patients. All better now”.

“Yes, yes…so it seems. They also seem to be standing around in a disused railway station. Is there any particular reason for that?” Doctor Constantine asked confused.

“Yeah, well, you know, cut backs”, the Doctor said with a grin “Listen, whatever was wrong with them in the past, you're probably going to find that they're cured. Just tell them what a great doctor you are. Don't make a big thing of it. Okay?” and with that he rushed back to Rose, Freya, Nancy and Jamie. Freya watched with mild amusement as he climbed on top of the Chula med-ship “Right, you lot! Lots to do. Beat the Germans, save the world. Don't forget the welfare state!” the Doctor said loudly to Doctor Constantine who smiles. The Time Lord jumped down and went to work on the control panel. “Setting this to self-destruct, soon as everybody's clear. History says there was an explosion here. Who am I to argue with history?”

“Usually the first in line”, Rose pointed out.

\---------------

When the trio wandered back into the TARDIS a little while later, the Doctor’s happy mood hadn’t dissipated. “The Nanogenes will clean up the mess and switch themselves off, because I just told them to. Nancy and Jamie will go to Doctor Constantine for help, ditto. All in all, all things considered, fantastic!” he said happily.

“Look at you beaming away like a kid at Christmas”, Rose laughed.

“Who says I'm not, red bicycle when you were twelve?” the Doctor said quickly.

Rose stared at him surprised “What?” she asked.

The Doctor threw out his arms “And everybody lives!  Everybody lives! I need more days like this”, he said happily. This was exactly what he needed, one day where everybody lived. He also knew Freya needed this too especially after the Time War AND 50 years imprisonment.

“Doctor…” Rose began.

“Go on, ask me anything. I'm on fire!” the Time Lord continued.

“What about Jack?” Rose asked, the Doctor’s grin faded “Why'd he say goodbye?”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack was surprised to hear _Moonlight Serenade_ playing behind him. He spins his chair around to see Rose and the Doctor in a rather awkward position. “Jack get in here before that bomb explodes!” Freya shouted at him from the doorway. Jack leaps to his feet and runs out of his ship and into the TARDIS. The Time Lady quickly closed the door behind him.

“Right and turn” the Doctor spins Rose around, getting her arm all twisted. “Okay, okay, try and spin me again, but this time don't get my arm up my back!” the Doctor looked sheepish “No extra points for a half-nelson”.

“I'm sure I used to know this stuff”, the Doctor said rather put out. He moved away from Rose and over to the console, flicking a switch to start the engines up.

“Welcome to the TARDIS”, Rose said leaning against the console.

“Much bigger on the inside…” Jack commented.

“You'd better be”, the Doctor said.

“I think what the Doctor's trying to say is…you may cut in”, Rose said holding out her hand as an indication that she wanted Jack to dance with her.

 “I've just remembered!” the Doctor exclaimed.

“What?” Freya asked. The music changes to _In The Mood_ , playing out on all the speakers around the console room. The Doctor dances on the spot to it, snapping his fingers.

“I can dance!” he said happily. The Doctor moved over to Freya, taking hold of her hands, pulling her to him. Jack and Rose watched the Time Lords dance around the console room with only a couple of stumbles from Freya.

“Wanna join in?” Rose asked Jack. The American grinned at her, took her hands and they began to dance as well.

“By the way you don’t seem to be struggling with words anymore”, the Doctor told Freya as the danced. A delighted look crossed Freya’s face. She had no idea that she wasn’t struggling anymore but she was very happy with that fact.


	18. Pit stop in Cardiff

“They seem to be getting pretty close”, Jack sad quietly to Rose as they watched the two Time Lords up in the gantry. The Doctor was doing some work while chatting away to Freya, occasionally getting a laugh from the Time Lady. Rose hummed in agreement. After the trip to 1941, The Doctor and Freya did appear to be closer than before.

Suddenly was a knock at the door. Jack crossed the grilled floor and went down the ramp to the door. “Who the hell are you?” the American demanded, sticking his head out of the door.

“What do you mean, who the hell am I? Who the hell are _you_?” Mickey asked rudely.

“Captain Jack Harkness”, Jack answered “Whatever your selling, we're not buying”, he added.

“Get out of my way!” Mickey said before he shoved himself past Jack and stepped into the TARDIS.

“Don't tell me. This must be Mickey”, Jack stated, shutting the door.

“Here comes trouble!” the Doctor said cheerily “How're you doing, Ricky boy?”

“I thought his name was Mickey”, Freya said with a frown.

“It is”, the Doctor confirmed.

“So why did you call him Ricky?” Freya questioned.

“For fun”, the Doctor answered.

“You look fantastic”, Mickey told Rose before he hugged her.

“Aw, sweet, look at these two. How come I never get any of that?” Jack remarked to the Doctor.

“Buy me a drink first”, the Doctor said.

“You're such hard work”, Jack commented.

“But worth it”, the Doctor said giving Freya a wink. The Time Lady blushed, averting her gaze with a shy smile on her face.

“Did you manage to find it?” Rose asked Mickey.

“There you go”, Mickey handed Rose her passport.

“I can go anywhere now”, Rose said showing the Doctor.

“I told you, you don't need a passport”, the Time Lord said.

“It's all very well going to Platform One and Justicia and the Glass Pyramid of San Kaloon, but what if we end up in Brazil?” Rose asked “I might need it. You see, I'm prepared for anything”. She smiled, her tongue sticking out between her teeth.

“Sounds like you’re staying, then”, Mickey remarked “So, what're you doing in Cardiff?” he asked  “And who the hell's Jumping Jack Flash? I mean, I don't mind you hanging out with big-ears up there…”

“Oi!” the Doctor protested.

“They’re not that bad”, Freya spoke up “I like them”. It was the Doctor’s turn to blush.

“But this guy, I don't know, he's kind of…” Mickey continued.

“Handsome?” Jack offered as the Doctor climbed down from the gantry, Freya following. He stepped off the bottom rung and then helped her down.

“More like cheesy”, Mickey corrected.

“Early twenty first Century slang. Is cheesy good or bad?” Jack questioned.

“It's bad”, Mickey answered.

“But bad means good, isn't that right?” Jack pressed.

“I don’t think so?” Freya said as more of a question as she didn’t know if that was the case. His question was a tad confusing.

“We just stopped off. We need to refuel”, Rose explained to Mickey “The thing is, Cardiff's got this rift running through the middle of the city. It's invisible, but it's like an earthquake fault between different dimensions”.

“The rift was healed back in 1869….” The Doctor added.

“Thanks to a girl named Gwyneth, because these creatures called the Gelth, they were using the rift as a gateway but she saved the world and closed it”, Rose said picking up where her left off.

“But closing a rift always leaves a scar, and that scar generates energy, harmless to the human race…” Jack put in.

“But perfect for the TARDIS”, the Doctor said “so just park it here for a couple of days right on top of the scar and…”

“Open up the engines, soak up the radiation”, Freya continued.

“Like filling her up with petrol and off we go!”  Rose said cheerfully.

“Into time!” Jack high fived Rose.

“And space!” the Doctor, Rose and Jack shouted.

“My God, have you seen yourselves?” Mickey asked, staring at the trio in disbelief “You all think you're so clever, don't you?”

“Yeah”, the Doctor said proudly.

“Yeah”, Rose agreed.

“Yep!” Jack said popping the p.

~Roald Dahl Plass~

The five of them stepped out the TARDIS “Should take another twenty four hours, which means we've got time to kill”, the Doctor told them all.

“That old lady's staring”, Mickey remarked eyeing the elderly woman.

“Probably wondering what four people could do inside a small wooden box”, Jack said patting the Doctor suggestively on the shoulder.

“What are you captain of, the Innuendo Squad?” Mickey asked. Jack shot him a whatever sign and started to walk off “Wait! the TARDIS, we can't just leave it. Doesn't it get noticed?”

Jack stopped, turned back “Yeah, what's with the police box?” he asked “Why does it look like that?”

“It's a cloaking device”, Rose answered.

“It's actually called a chameleon circuit”, Freya corrected her “The TARDIS is meant to disguise itself wherever it lands, like if this was Ancient Rome, it'd be a statue on a plinth or something”.

“But I landed in the 1960s, it disguised itself as a police box, and the circuit got stuck”, the Doctor added.

“So it copied a real thing? There actually was police boxes?” Mickey questioned.

“Yeah, on street corners”, the Doctor answered “Phone for help before they had radios and mobiles. If they arrested someone, they could shove them inside till help came, like a little prison cell”.

“Why don't you just fix the circuit?” Jack asked.

“I like it, don't you?” the Doctor countered.

“I LOVE it”, Rose said patting the TARDIS.

“Me too”, Freya agreed “its what makes her unique”.

Mickey grinned, thinking he just proved a point “But that's what I meant! There's no police boxes anymore, so doesn't it get noticed?”

“Ricky, let me tell you something about the human race. You put a mysterious blue box slap bang in the middle of town, what do they do?” the Doctor put his hands on Mickey’s shoulders. The man opened his mouth to reply, but didn’t get a chance as the Doctor continued “Walk past it. Now, stop your nagging. Let's go and explore”.

He turned to Freya and held out his hand. She took it. “What's the plan?” the Time Lady asked.

“I don't know! Cardiff, early twenty first century and the wind's coming from the…east. Trust me. Safest place in the universe”.

\-------------------

~Restaurant~

The Doctor, Rose, Mickey and Freya listened to Jack’s rather exciting story while they sat relaxing in a café “I swear, six feet tall and with big tusks…”

“You're lying through your teeth”, the Doctor accused.

“I'd have gone bonkers! That's the word, bonkers!” Rose laughed.

“I mean, it turns out the white things are tusks and I mean tusks! And it's woken, and it's not happy…” Jack continued.

“How could you seriously not know it was there?” Freya asked a tad confused. If the creature was a big as he was saying how on earth did he and his friends not realise it was there/

“And we're standing there, fifteen of us, naked…” Jack continued.

“Naked?!” Rose exclaimed.

“And I'm like, oh, no, no, it's got nothing to do with me! And then it roars, and we are running! Oh my God, we are running! And Brakovitch falls, so I turn to him and I say…”

“I knew we should've turned left!” Mickey shouted taking the punchline from Jack. That had all of them roaring with laughter.

“That's my line!” Jack said to Mickey.

“I don't believe you”, Rose said wiping her eyes from tears that had formed from laughing so hard “I don't believe a word you say ever. That is so brilliant. Did you ever get your clothes back?”

The Doctor noticed a newspaper that an old man was reading nearby and the smile disappeared from his face. Unnoticed by the others, he stood up.

“No”, Jack replied “I just picked him up went right for the ship, full throttle. Didn't stop until I hit the spacelanes. I was shaking. It was unbelievable. It freaked me out, and by the time I got fifteen light years away I realised I'm like this” he held up his hand, trembling it.

“And I was having such a nice day”, the Doctor said showing the others the picture on the front page. It was, Margaret the Slitheen. She was the new mayor of Cardiff.


	19. To catch a Slitheen

The two Time Lords and three humans stride purposefully up the steps of Town Hall, Rose filling Jack in on who Margaret was. “According to intelligence, the target is the last surviving member of the Slitheen family, a criminal sect from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorious, masquerading as a human being, zipped inside a skin suit”, Jack stated “Okay, plan of attack, we assume a basic fifty seven/fifty six strategy, covering all available exits on the ground floor. Doctor, you and Freya go face to face. That'll designate Exit One, I'll cover Exit Two. Rose, you Exit Three. Mickey Smith, you take Exit Four. Have you got that?”

While Jack was rattling this all off, the Doctor was eyeing him with mild surprise at his impertinence; Rose’s face was contorted with the effort of understanding what he was saying and Mickey looked at the former Time Agent thoroughly confused. Freya just stood there, nodding along with what he was saying. It was a sound plan.

“Excuse me. Who's in charge?” the Doctor asked sternly.

“Sorry” Jack apologised “Awaiting orders, ma’am”, he glanced at Freya with a grin.

 The Time Lady blinked “I’m not in charge Jack. The Doctor is”, she said. The Time Lord gave Jack a very smug look at this.

“Right, here's the plan…” the Doctor paused realising that Jack’s plan was the only reasonable one they had “Like he said. Nice plan. Anything else?”  

“Present arms”, Jack instructed and they all pulled out a mobile phone except Freya but that didn’t matter as she was going to be with the Doctor anyway. “Speed dial?”

All four press a button on their devices which sounded out a beep.

“Yup”, the Doctor said popping the p.

“Ready”, Rose confirmed.

“Check”, Mickey added.

Jack gave them all a lazy grin “See ya in hell”, he said before walking off to the right. The Doctor, Freya and Rose walked straight ahead for a bit before the Time Lords and blonde human separated to go toward their designated exits. Mikey lingered for a bit as he worked out which way he was supposed to go. Once he figured it out, he went off.

~Lord Mayor’s outer office~

The Doctor and Freya walked over to the secretary sat behind the desk outside the Mayor’s office, Idris Hopper. “Hello!” the Doctor said cheerfully “We’ve come to see the Lord Mayor”.

“Have you got an appointment?” Idris asked.

The Doctor shook his head “No, just an old friend passing by. Bit of a surprise. Can't wait to see her face”, he said.

“Well, she's just having a cup of tea”, Idris said.

“It would only take a minute of her time”, Freya spoke up.

“Well…” Idris started

“Please, she would be ever so happy to see us”, Freya added. The Doctor was surprised by the almost pleading look she was giving the man. This was a slightly different side to his Soulmate that he hadn’t seen before.

Idris sighed “Fine. Names?”

“The Doctor and Freya”, the Doctor replied. Idris raised an eye brow at the Doctor’s name but didn’t comment. Instead he just got up and entered the office. The Time Lords exchanged looks when they heard a tea cup smash from behind the closed door. They watch it open a crack and Idris squeezed out, looking slightly flustered.

“The Lord Mayor says thank you fo…- popping by…she'd love to have a chat, but, um…she's up to her eyes in paperwork. Perhaps if you could make an appointment for next week?” the man stammered.

“She's climbing out of the window, isn't she?” the Doctor stated.

“Yes, she is”, Idris agreed. The Doctor nods smugly, pushing past the man and entering the office, Freya following suit. They dashed across the room and out onto the balcony just in time to see Margaret hop over onto the scaffolding.

“Slitheen heading north”, the Doctor reported into his mobile “I’ll go first”, he said to Freya who nodded. However before he could start down the scaffolding after Margaret, Idris burst out on the balcony and starts grappling with the Doctor.

“Leave the Mayor alone!” he shouted. Seeing the Doctor wasn’t going to be able to go after the disguised Slitheen, Freya decided to clamber over onto the scaffolding.

“Be careful!” the Doctor called down to her and continued to tussle with Idris, though he was using a little more force than necessary as he was eager to join his Soulmate in the chase.

Freya jumped off the bottom on the scaffolding a mere several seconds after Margaret. The disguised Slitheen started off in one way only to be blocked by Rose. She hissed angrily and pulls off an earring. Margaret headed off in another direction but Jack was quickly approaching. She turned back the way she came just in time to see the Doctor join Freya.

However, there was one final way she could escape and she pelted down it as fast as her fat legs can carry her, pulling off her second earring as she went. “Who's on Exit Four?!” Jack asked as they all converged at one end, watching the Slitheen toddle away.

“That was Mickey!” Rose exclaimed.  

“Here I am!” Mickey panted, running up to the four, his foot now free of the bucket it had been stuck in.

“Mickey the idiot”, the Doctor said giving the man an unimpressed look.

“Oh, be fair. she's not exactly going to outrun us, is she?” Rose remarked eyeing Margaret. And then she disappeared right before their eyes in a flash of blue light.

“She's got a teleport! That's cheating!” Jack complained “Now we're never going to get her”.

“Oh, the Doctor's very good at teleports”, Rose assured the American. The Doctor produced his sonic screwdriver from his pocket, held it up and pressed the button. Margret reappeared, this time running straight at them. The moment she realised this, she turned and hurried away, vanishing once again. The Doctor brought her back with a single press of the button on his sonic.

Margret repeated the action of running away from them, activating her teleport once more. This continued for a couple more times before the Slitheen gave up. She held her hands up  “This is persecution”, she all but whined “Why can't you leave me alone? What did I ever do to you?”

“You tried to kill me and destroy this entire planet”, the Doctor deadpanned.

“Apart from that”, Margaret said.

\--------

The five of them promptly escorted Margret back into City Hall. “So, you're a Slitheen, you're on Earth, you're trapped. Your family get killed but you teleport out just in the nick of time. You have no means of escape. What do you do? You build a nuclear power station”, the Doctor gestured to the model in the middle of the room. Jack and Rose looked at with interest while Mickey eyed Margret warily. Freya’s attention on the other hand was on the posters on the walls. “But what for?”

“A philanthropic gesture. I've learnt the error of my ways”, Margaret replied.

“And just so happens to be right on top of the rift”, the Doctor continued.

“What rift would that be?” Margaret asked ‘innocently’.

“It’s a rift in space and time”, Jack explained “if this power station went into meltdown…”

“The entire planet would explode”, Freya finished, not taking her eyes off of the poster in front of her. Those two words she’d seen before had cropped up for the fourth time. First on a sign when she crash landed on Earth then as the name of Van Statten’s Helicopter. And on that station it was the name of a TV channel. Now it was printed on a poster at Cardiff’s City Hall. This was definitely much more than a coincidence. It was almost as if that phrase was following them through time and space. But how? Why?

She’d been to caught up in her thoughts that she was startled when the Doctor placed a hand on her shoulder. “Are you alright?” he asked looking at her concerned. He’d only come over when he noticed that she’d been staring at the poster for a while with a worried look on her face.

“That’s the fourth time I’ve seen/heard that phrase”, Freya said, not answering his question. She glanced at him “and I don’t think that’s a coincidence”.

The Doctor looked at the words _Blaidd Drwg_. He knew it wasn’t a coincidence either but he decided it was best for his Soulmate if he just waved it off as he didn’t want her to be concerned over it. “I think it is”, he said making her look at him in surprise.

“Really?” Freya asked sceptically. She would’ve thought that he’d agree there was something strange going on. Not wave it off like it was nothing.

“Yep. Just a coincidence Freya”, the Doctor said cheerfully “Its…like hearing a word on the radio then hearing it all day. Don’t worry about it. We’ve got things to do, taking Margaret home. And…” he turned her around and steered her over to the extrapolator which was currently in Jack’s hands.

“That’s a tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator”, the Time Lady breathed. she reached out and plucked it from Jack’s grasp “incredible craftsmanship”, she murmured, running her fingers at over it.

“You can tinker with it once we get back to the TARDIS if you like”, the Doctor offered earning him a bright smile from Freya which made his hearts do a funny flip in his chest.


	20. Power of the TARDIS' heart

Freya knelt down on the grilled floor next to the console setting the extrapolator down. She reached up opened a panel in the console and pulled out a bunch of wires. “Jack could you give me a hand?” the Time Lady asked.

“Sure”, the American said sitting down next to her.

“This ship is impossible”, Margaret breathed staring around at the interior in awe “It's superb. How do you get the outside around the inside?”

“Like I'd give you the secret, yeah”, the Doctor scoffed.

“I almost feel better about being defeated”, Margaret said “I never stood a chance. This is the technology of the gods”. She touched the console, quickly withdrawing her fingers when she got a little shock.

“Don't worship me I'd make a very bad god”, the Doctor told her “You wouldn't get a day off, for starters. Freya, how are we doing?” he asked.

“This thing is top of the range, stacked with power”, Freya answered.

“But we can use it for fuel?” the Doctor questioned.

“Unfortunately its not compatible with the TARDIS to be used in that way”, Freya said apologetically “but I can wire it up to lessen the time needed to refuel”.

“How long?” the Doctor asked.

“12 hours. We'll be ready to go by morning”, the Time Lady explained.  

“Then we're stuck here overnight”, the Doctor said none to happy about having the Slitheen in the ship with his soulmate thought hopefully the TARDIS would protect the Time Lady if need arises.

“I'm in no hurry…” the female Slitheen said.

“We've got a prisoner. The police box is really a police box”, Rose said excitedly.

Margaret smiled at them unpleasantly “You're not just police, though. Since you're taking me to my death that makes you my executioners. Each and every one of you…”

“Well, you deserve it”, Mickey said coldly. 

“You're very quick to say so. You're very quick to soak your hands in my blood, which makes you better than me, how, exactly…?” Mickey doesn’t have an answer for this “Long night ahead…” she said walking around the console to sit on the captain’s chair, under the watchful eye of the Doctor “Let's see who can look me in the eye”.

Margaret fixes Mickey with a calm, collected gaze. He managed to hold it for a few seconds before adverting his eyes. Margret then looks at Rose, who glances guiltily at the Doctor. The Time Lord glanced up from the console briefly before going back to his work. As if she sensed the Doctor’s unease, Freya stood up and fixed Margaret a calm look. Her unwavering gaze was enough to make the Slitheen look away.

She wasn’t one for sending anybody to their deaths…heck she didn’t like death in general and she’d seen enough of it during the war. However, she wasn’t going to stand for any one guilt tripping the Doctor or her friends.

Eventually a rather uncomfortable Mickey and Rose excused themselves leaving just the Doctor, Jack and Freya with Margaret. “I gather it's not always like this…having to wait”, the Slitheen said darkly, still sitting on captain’s chair “I bet you're always the first to leave, Doctor. Never mind the consequences, off you go. You butchered my family and then ran for the stars, am I right? But not this time. At last you have consequences…how does it feel?”

“I didn't butcher them”, the Doctor insisted.

“Don't answer back. That's what she wants”, Jack said calmly.

“He’s right, she just trying to get a rise out of you”, Freya said taking his hand “don’t let her”. The Doctor nodded.

“What about you Margaret?” he questioned “You had an emergency teleport. You didn't zap them to safety, did you?”

“It only carries one. I had to fly without coordinates. I ended up on a skip in the Isle of Dogs”, Margaret explained. That earned her sniggers from the Doctor and Jack. Freya just looked at them quizzically wondering what was so amusing. “It’s not funny!”

The Doctor and Jack sobered up “Sorry. It is a bit funny”, the Time Lord said.

“Do I get a last request?” Margaret asked.

“Depends what it is”, the Doctor replied.

“I grew quite fond of my little human life. All those rituals. The brushing of the teeth, and the complicated way they cook things. There's a little restaurant just round the Bay. It became quite a favourite of mine”, the Slitheen explained.

“Is that what you want, a last meal?” the Doctor questioned.

“Don't I have rights?” Margaret countered.

“Oh, like she's not going to try to escape”, Jack said.

“Except I can never escape the Doctor, so where's the danger?” Margret said bitterly “I wonder if you could do it? To sit with a creature you're about to kill and take supper. How strong is your stomach?”

“Strong enough”, the Doctor said.

“I wonder. I've seen you fight your enemies… now dine with them”, Margaret challenged.

“You won't change my mind”, The Doctor told her.

“Prove it”, Margaret said.

“Wait, is it a good idea for her to leave the TARDIS?” Freya asked “what all those humans? They’d be in danger if she slipped away”.

“Except I've got these”, Jack said holding up two metal bracelets “You both wear one. If she moves…more than ten feet away…” he made a loud buzzing noise, mimicking an electric shock making Margaret jump back in alarm “she gets zapped by ten thousand volts”.

The Doctor nodded again, happy with Jack’s solution “Margaret, would you like to come out to dinner with me and Freya?” he offered.

“Actually I’m gonna stay here with Jack, finish getting the extrapolator wired up”, the Time Lady said.

“You sure?” the Doctor asked.

“Positive”, Freya confirmed “no offense to you Jack but I know what I’m doing when it comes to the TARDIS”.  

“Alright”, the Doctor said “we shouldn’t be too long”, he promised.

“Ok”, Freya said and he and Margaret left the blue box.

“So, you and the Doc are getting pretty close”, Jack spoke up a moment or two after they were gone.

“We are the last of our kind Jack, of course we would be close”, Freya said connecting a couple of wires to the extrapolator.

“That’s not what I meant. I mean you seem to be more than friends”, Jack elaborated.

“There’s nothing romantic going on if that’s what you mean”, Freya told him “We’re just really good friends”.

“Well, how does he make you feel?” Jack questioned.

“He makes me feel…safe and I’ve not felt that in a very long time. I also have these moments where I want to smile just because he’s…there” a smile crept onto the Time Lady’s face “sometimes I get this feeling in my stomach like butterflies and occasionally my hearts race in my chest” she cleared her throat “anyway, the Doctor and I are just friends and _we_ need to get back to wiring this thing up” she patted the extrapolator.

Jack nodded and they got back to work. As they did so, a small smile appeared on the American’s face. If her response was anything to go by, Freya was most definitely in love with the Doctor. And he knew for sure that the Time Lord reciprocated based on the way he acted around the Time Lady. Now all he and Rose had to do was to get them to realise it.

“We are done!” Freya suddenly cheered breaking through Jack’s thoughts.

“We are?” the American asked, surprised.

“Yep”, Freya replied.

“That was quick”, Jack remarked.

Freya shrugged “I’ve had many decades…centuries even of practice”, she said and stood up “we better let the Doctor know the good news”.

Jack stood up as well and rooted through his pocket for his phone. He’d literally took it out when lights in the console room started to flash madly. “What’s going on?” Jack asked.

“I don’t know”, Freya answered. The pair jumped, startled when sparks began to fly from the console. Then the extrapolator began to flash madly. The Time Lady knelt down and proceeded to rip the wires out of the device “help me!” the blonde shouted at Jack.

“Oh, right”, he said and did exactly as she said. Suddenly the Doctor burst into the TARDIS, closely followed by Margaret.

“What the hell are you doing?!” the Doctor exclaimed to Jack.

“Its not his fault”, Freya defended “the extrapolator just went crazy on its own!” She tore out the last wire but everything was still going bonkers “that’s impossible. It’s still feeding off the engine!”

Before the Doctor could say anything, Rose entered the ship. “What is it? What's happening?!” she cried.

“Oh, just little me”, Margaret said before she tore the arm of her skin suit and grabbed Rose by the neck with her long claws “One wrong move and she snaps like a promise”, she threatened.

“I might've known”, the Doctor said angrily, drawing Freya protectively behind him.

“I've had you bleating all night, poor baby, now shut it”, Margaret snapped “You, fly boy, put the extrapolator at my feet”, she ordered Jack. The Doctor nods to the former Time Agent when the female Slitheen tightened his grip around Rose’s neck. Jack places the extrapolator near Margaret’s feet. “Thank you. Just as I planned”, Margaret said smugly.

“I thought your plan involved blowing up a nuclear power station”, Freya reminded her, peeking out from behind the Doctor’s back.

“Failing that, if I were to be… arrested…then anyone capable of tracking me down would have considerable technology of their own. Therefore, they would be captivated by the extrapolator. Especially a magpie mind like yours, Doctor. So the extrapolator was programmed to go to plan B!” Margaret grabbed one of Rose’s plaits hard making the blonde human whimper “To lock onto the nearest alien power source and open the rift” she looks around the TARDIS in awe “And what a power source it found… I'm back on schedule… thanks to you”.  

“The rift's going to convulse. You'll destroy the whole planet”, Jack snapped at her.

“And you with it!” Margaret stepped onto the extrapolator still holding Rose by the neck “While I ride this board over the crest of the inferno all the way to freedom. Stand back… Surf's up”

The panel in front of Margaret suddenly bursts open and a blinding light floods out. It hits the Slitheen forcing her to release her grip on Rose. Jack quickly darted forward, pulling the blonde away from the alien. “Of course, opening the rift means you'll pull this ship apart”, the Doctor said calmly.

“So sue me”, Margaret spat.

“It's not just any old power source. It's the Tardis. My TARDIS. The best ship in the universe”, the Time Lord continued.

“It'll make wonderful scrap”, Margaret said nastily.

“What's that light?” Rose rasped, rubbing her neck.

“That’s the heart of the TARDIS”, Freya explained “This ship's alive. You've opened its soul”. Breathing heavily, Margaret stares into the light as if forgetting everything else.

“It's so bright”, she breathed.

“Look at it, Margaret”, the Doctor said.

“Beautiful”, Margaret murmured.

“Look inside, Blon Fel Fotch. Look at the light”, the Doctor urged. Margaret looked up at the Doctor with a rather relieved smile on her face.

“Thank you”, she said before she was engulfed in the bright light, her now empty skin suit crumpling onto the extrapolator.

“You two don’t look”, Freya told Jack and Rose “come on, lets get this sorted”, she said to the Doctor. The Time Lords quickly worked together to close the panel to the heart of the TARDIS and cut of the energy that was poring into the sky. “Its safe to look now”, Freya said to Jack and Rose, who turned around.

“What happened to Margaret?” Rose asked nodding to the skin suit.

“Must've got burnt up. Carried out her own death sentence”, Jack remarked.

The Doctor shook his head “No, I don't think she's dead”, he said.

Rose frowned “Then where'd she go?” she questioned.

Freya went over to the skin suit and plunked an large green egg with tentacles “She was regressed back into an egg. Powerful thing, the heart of the TARDIS”, she said.

“Well, Margaret the Slitheen has another chance to have a better life”, the Doctor remarked.

“Next stop: Raxacoricofallapatorious”, Jack declared.

“Before we do that, I gotta check on Mickey”, Rose said and darted out of the TARDIS. The Doctor, Freya and Jack weren’t waiting long before she came back alone.

“Where’s Mickey?” Freya asked.

“He wasn’t where I left him”, Rose said “he’s gone”.

“Want some help to look for him?” Freya offered.

The teenager shook her head “Nah, I’m sure he’ll be fine”, she politely declined.


	21. Big Brother

 

The Doctor and Freya were crouched inside a small cupboard, squashed together due to the lack of space. Suddenly the entire place starts to spin, catching them both off guard. The Doctor grabbed hold of his soulmate in an attempt to try and protect her from getting bounced around too much. “Whats happening?” Freya asked.

“I don’t know”,  the Doctor replied “Just hang on!”

The door to the cupboard flew open and the Time Lords tumbled out. The room they’d fallen into was brightly coloured with drawings on the walls and a modern style chair. “Oh, my God!” a female voice exclaimed, gaining their attention. They looked over to see a woman in her 30’s rush over to them “I don't believe it! Why'd they put you in there? They never said you were coming”.

The Doctor got to his feet, helping Freya up. The blonde promptly fell into him, as her legs felt incredibly unsteady. The Time Lord collapsed on the carpet as he felt rather wobbly too.

The woman, Lynda gave then a look of sympathy. She knew exactly how they felt it was the same way for her when she first arrived. "That's the transmat. It can scramble your head a bit. _I_ was sick for days", she explained before she got the pair back on their feet, Freya first and th the Doctor once she was sure that the Time Lady was able to stand on her own. "So, what's your names then?" She asked moving back from the Doctor as she was satisfied that he seemed steady enough.

"The Doctor ...I think", the Doctor said though he was a little unsure for some reason. Was that his name?

"And I'm...Freya, I believe", the Time Lady said, as equally confused as the Time Lord. Her mind was still spinning like that cupboard. "We were…" the blonde frowned. What had they been doing before they were in the cupboard "I don't know…" she glanced at the Doctor.

"Don't look at me. I haven't got the foggiest", he admitted "What I'd like to know is how we got here. Wherever 'here' is".

"You got chosen", Lynda said excitedly.

The Doctor and Freya exchanged confused looks. Chosen for what exactly?" the Doctor asked.

"You're both housemates!" Lynda elaborated, still pretty excited "You're in the house. Isn't that brilliant?!"

"Whose house are we in? And why are we housemates?" Freya questioned, feeling even more confused than before.

"You're in the Big Brother House. Isn't it cool?" Lynda replied happily. The Doctor raised his eyebrows in disbelief at her answer.

"You've got to be kidding me", he said.

"I'll say",  male voice said. The trio looked over to see a young man with an unamused expression on his face. A black woman  stop next to him looking equally annoyed "We've got eviction in five minutes! I've been here for all nine weeks, I've followed the rules, I haven't had a single warning, and then they come swanning in", the young man, Strood,  complained.

The black woman also voiced her displeasure "If they keep changing the rules, I'm going to protest, I am. You watch me, I'm going to paint the walls"

"Would the Doctor and Freya please come to the Diary Room?" A voice said seemingly from above them. There was a loud buzzing and a door slid open. The Doctor took Freya's hand and they walked into the Diary Room.

The Time Lady sat in the chair while the Doctor perched on the arm. "You are live on channel forty four thousand. Please do not swear", the voice instructed.

"Hold on, is Big Brother a TV show?" Freya asked the Doctor.

"Yes. Yes it is", The Doctor replied. He had no idea how they ended up inside the Big Brother House or what they'd been doing before but one thing he knew for sure, he was going to get himself and his soulmate out. They weren't going to spend five minutes here.

After spending a couple of minutes in the Diary Room, the Time Lords started their search to find a way out of the Big Brother House. “I can't open it”, the Doctor declared as he tried a door after sweeping his sonic over it.

“It's got a deadlock seal, ever since Big Brother five hundred and four when they all walked out. You must remember that”, Lynda explained.

“What about this?” Freya called from the other side of the room. The Doctor and Lynda joined her at what appeared to be a window but it was just blackness outside. “Looks like a window”, she remarked.

“Does appear to be one”, the Doctor agreed “though there’s only a wall on the other side. Isn’t there supposed to be a garden out there or something?”

Lynda scoffed under her breath “Don't be daft. No one's got a garden anymore. Who's got a garden?” she asked rhetorically.

“We do”, Freya replied “in the…TARDIS…” the blonde glanced at the Doctor eyes wide as her memory suddenly came flooding back “I remember…”

“That's the amnesia! So what happened? Where did they get you?” Lynda questioned.

“We'd just left Raxacoricofallapatorius”, Freya replied “Then we went to Kyoto”.

“That's right, Japan in 1336!” the Doctor added, recalling that trip “and we only just escaped…”

“Afterward we were in the TARDIS, laughing and joking about it. Then there was this really bright light that came through the walls and…we ended up here”, Freya finished.  

“Yeah, that's the transmat beam”, Lynda nodded “That's how they pick the housemates”.

“Oh, Lynda…it’s much worse than that. We’re not just passing travellers. No stupid little transmat gets inside my ship”, the Doctor told her “That beam was fifteen million times more powerful, which means…this isn't just a game. There's something else going on” the Time Lord stepped toward to a camera “Well! Here's the latest update from the Big Brother house. We are getting out. Freya and I are going to find my friends, and then I'm going to find you”. The Doctor placed his finger on the camera lens threateningly, giving the camera a glare.

“How are we going to get out?” Freya asked “door’s deadlock sealed…windows are no good either”.

“We could get ourselves voted out”, the Doctor suggested.

“How stupid are you? You've only just joined, neither of you are eligible”, Strood sneered.

“You don’t have to be rude . I can’t see you coming up with a viable suggestion”, Freya shot back, coming to the Doctor’s defence “Lynda? Any thoughts?”

“Strood is right, you cannot get voted out but…you could get forcibly evicted”, Lynda answered “other Linda, with an I, not with a Y like me, damaged a camera”.

“What, like this?” the Doctor asked, pointing his sonic at the camera and pressed the button. The slender device made camera spark, destroying it.  

“The Doctor, you've broken the House Rules. Big Brother has no choice but to evict you. You have ten seconds to make your farewells, and then we're going to get you!” the voice of Big Brother announced.  

“That's more like it!” the Doctor darted over to what he believed to the exit door with Freya “Come on, then. Open up!” he ordered banging his hand on it.

“You're mad! It's like you want to die!” Lynda cried.

“What do you mean?” Freya asked, confused “you suggested it”.

“Yeah, but I thought you knew how this all works”, Lynda argued “when you’re evicted…its from life”.

“What?!” the Time Lady exclaimed “they kill you? Why?”

“That’s just the game, I’m afraid”, Lynda said sombrely.

“If you knew this, why did you guys apply?” The Doctor demanded “is risking your life  worth getting yourselves on telly?”

“We didn’t apply”, Strood said.

“You get chosen whether you like it or not”, Crosbie added. The door the Time Lords were standing by slid open.

“The Doctor, please leave the Big Brother house”, the voice of Big Brother ordered.

“You sure we should go in?” Freya asked uncertainly “She did say ‘evicted from life’”.

“We’ll be fine”, he assured her “they wouldn’t kill us. They brought us here for a reason” The Doctor held out his hand to her “trust me”. Freya placed her hand in his and they entered the small room beyond. The door slid shut behind them. “Come on then! What are you waiting for?” the Time Lord said loudly, looking up at the camera “evict us!”

“Eviction in five…four…three…two…one…”

The pair heard the sound of something powering down. “Ah, ha! I knew it!” the Doctor cheered  “You see, someone brought us into this game. If they'd wanted us to die, they should’ve transmatted us into a volcano”. The Time Lord used his sonic on the on the lock on the door and it swings open. The door to the house slides open too and Lynda popped her head through.

“Come with us”, the Doctor said. Lynda glanced back at Strood and Crosbie who were looking at her from the sofa.

“We're not allowed!” Strood cried.

“Stay in there, you've got a 33.3333333% chance of being evicted”, the Doctor stated “stay with us and I promise we _will_ get you out alive so come on”.

“No…I can't…I can't”, Lynda said nervously.

“Lynda, you're a sweet girl. So tell me honestly, do you think anyone votes for sweet?” the Doctor asked, holding out his hand to her.  Lynda looked at his hand and then to his face. She could see the logic in what he was saying and so she took his hand. The trio ran out into the corridor.

“This looks rather familiar”, Freya remarked taking in their surroundings.

“Yeah, it does”, the Doctor agreed “This is Satellite Five. And no guards”, the Time Lord commented “That makes a change. You'd think a big business like Satellite Five would be armed to the teeth”.

“No one's called it Satellite Five in ages. It's the Game Station now. Hasn't been Satellite Five in about a 100 years”, Lynda told them. The Doctor checked his watch.

“Its 100 years exactly”, he reported.

“So that makes it the year two zero-zero/ one zero-zero”, Freya added.

“We were here before, on floor 139. The Satellite was broadcasting news channels back then. Had a bit of trouble upstairs. Nothing too serious. Easy. Gave them a hand, home in time for tea”, the Doctor explained as they walked.

Lynda gave them a sceptical look “A 100 years ago? What, you were here a 100 years ago?” she asked.

“Yep!” the Doctor said, popping the p, placing his hand on a touch sensitive pad next to a door but nothing happened.

“Well…you're both looking good for it”, Lynda remarked as he took out his sonic, scanning the edges of the door.

“Thanks”, Freya said.

“I’m getting funny sorts of readings”, the Doctor said.

“What kind of readings?” the Time Lady asked.   

“All kinds of energy”, the Doctor replied “The place is humming. It's weird. This goes way beyond normal transmissions. What would they need all that power for?”

Lynda shrugged “I don't know”, she replied “I think we're the first ever contestants to get outside”.

“We had a couple of friends travelling with us. Rose and Jack. They must've got caught in the same transmat. Where would they be?” Freya mused aloud.

“I don't know”, Lynda repeated “They could've been allocated anywhere. There's a hundred different games”.

“Like what?” the Doctor asked, giving her his full attention.

“Well, there's ten floors of _Big Brother_. There's a different House behind each of those doors. And then beyond that, there's all sorts of shows. It's non stop. There's…um… _Call My Bluff_ …with real guns… _Countdown_ , where you've got thirty seconds to stop the bomb going off… _Ground Force_ , which is a nasty one…you get turned into compost. Erm, _Wipeout_ , speaks for itself….Oh! and _Stars In Their Eyes_. Literally, stars in their eyes. If you don't sing, you get blinded”, Lynda explained.

“And you guys watch this stuff?” the Time Lady questioned rather horrified by all those game shows.

“Everyone does”, Lynda replied “How come you don't?”

“Never paid for our licence”, the Doctor told her.

The woman looked at the Time Lords, shocked by this revelation “Oh, my God!” she cried “You get executed for that”.

The Doctor held up his sonic “Let them try”, he said.

“You keep saying things that don't make sense”, Lynda said “Who are you two really?”  

“It doesn't matter”, the Doctor quickly replied before Freya could say anything.

“Well, it does to me. I've just put my life in your hands”, Lynda argued.

“We’ve already told you our names Lynda: the Doctor and Freya. And we travel from place to place in our ship called the TARDIS”, Freya explained.

“So, if we get out of here, what're you going to do? Just wander off again, travel from place to place?” Lynda pressed.

“Yep. As fast as we can”, the Doctor replied.

“So…I could come with ya?” Lynda asked tentatively.

“I don’t see any reason why you can’t”, Freya said “we’ve quite a fair amount of room in our ship”.

“But let’s just concentrate on the getting out”, the Doctor added “And to do that, you've got to know your enemy. Who's controlling it? Who's in charge of the satellite now?”

“Hold on”, Lynda darted across the room and pulled a lever which illuminates huge letters on the wall.

BAD WOLF CORPORATION

“Your lords and masters”, Lynda declared.

“You’ve got to be kidding me”, Freya said, gaping at those words. _Bad Wolf, yet again! What in the universe does this mean!_


	22. Return of the Daleks

 

The Doctor, Freya and Lynda stare down at the Earth from the Observation Deck they’d managed to find. Instead of it being thriving, the whole planet was grey and ugly with only a few patches of light showing here and there.

“Blimey! I've never seen it for real before. Not from orbit”, Lynda remarked, fascinated “Planet Earth”.

“What's happened to it?” Freya asked. It was supposed to be the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire, not this very sick looking planet before her.

“Well, it's always been like that Ever since I was born”, Lynda replied “See that there?” she pointed at a rather large storm formation “That's the Great Atlantic Smog Storm. It's been going twenty years. We get newsflashes telling us when it's safe to breath outside”.

The Doctor looked at her incredulously “So the population just sits there?” he questioned “Half the world's too fat, and half the world's too thin, and you lot just watch telly?”

“Ten thousand channels, all beaming down from here”, Lynda told him. The Time Lady shook her head.

“This is all wrong. It _should_ be the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire”, she stated “we fixed things when we came here last time…” she glanced at the Doctor “didn’t we?”

“By all rights it should have been fixed”, the Doctor agreed “so what went wrong?”

“Well, it all started a hundred years ago. All the news channels just shut down overnight”, Lynda informed the Time Lords “There was nothing left in their place. No information. The whole planet just froze. The government, the economy, they collapsed…that was the start of it. One hundred years of hell”.

“Oh, my…I made this world”, the Doctor breathed staring down at the Earth in horror.

“ _We_ ”, Freya corrected “we made this world”, she took his hand “you’re not shouldering all the blame anymore. You have me”. The Doctor smiled at the blonde. Yes, he did have her and when they managed to set history straight, he was going to tell her that she was his Soulmate. It was the only right thing to do considering he’d kept it from her for a while.

They stood there, looking down at the earth for a few moments more when Jack strolled into the room. “Hey, handsome! Hey Cinderella!” the former Time Agent greeted cheerfully “Good to see ya both!”

“And you Jack”, Freya said “though…how did you get out of the whatever game you were stuck in?”

“With pure skill”, Jack replied with a cocky smirk “where’s Rose?”

“We don’t know”, Freya answered.

“Can’t you track her down with that?” the Doctor questioned, nodding to the device on Jack’s wrist.

The American shook his head “She must still be inside the games. All the rooms are shielded”, he said.

The Doctor walked over to a computer and started to fiddle with it “If I can just get inside this…She's got to be here somewhere”, he said.

“Well, you'd better hurry up. These games don't have a happy ending”, Jack stated, after he, Lynda and Freya joined him.

“Do you think I don't know that?” the Time Lord snapped.  The blonde Time Lady, placed a hand on his arm. Her touch calmed him.

“Its gonna be ok, we’ll find her”, Freya said gently. She glanced at Jack “Can I borrow that?” she asked.

“Sure”, Jack replied and took it off “its already programmed to find Rose”. The Time Lady took it from him and turned to the Doctor.

“Mind if I have a go?” she questioned.

“Of course”,  the Doctor answered. He moved aside, allowing Freya to step up the computer.

“Hey, there!” Jack greeted to Lynda.

The brunette smiled at him shyly “Hello”, she said.

“Captain Jack Harkness”, Jack said holding out his hand.

“Lynda Moss”, Lynda supplied, placing her hand in his.

“Nice to meet you, Lynda Moss!” Jack said happily.

“Do you mind flirting outside?” the Doctor suggested, not looking away from Freya who was working away, a look of concentration on her face.

“I was just saying hello!” the American said, indignantly.

“For you, that's flirting”, the Doctor shot back.

“I'm not complaining”, Lynda said.

“Which is a _good_ idea”, Jack said, kissing the back of her hand. The computer bleeped and Freya frowned at it.

“This doesn’t make sense. I should be able to patch this in but I can’t”, she said.

“Maybe it’s too complicated?” Lynda suggested.

“Lynda… I’ve tackled things far more difficult than linking up a wrist device to a human computer”, Freya told her “by all rights this should be working and it’s not. Doctor, can you open this up for me please?”

“Sure”, the Time Lord said and pried off the front of the computer with Jack’s help. Freya continued with her work, this time fiddling with the now exposed wires.

“This place should be a basic broadcaster, but the systems are twice as complicated”, she explained “It's more than just television…this station's transmitting something else”.

“Like what?” Jack asked.

“Not sure”, Freya answered “but its highly likely that its got something to do with this Bad Wolf business. Everywhere we go, those two words follow. It was even the first thing I saw after I crashed on Earth”.

“You never told me that”, the Doctor remarked.

“I never thought much of it at first. And when I heard/ saw it again…I just believed it was some really weird coincidence”, Freya said “though now we’re back here…I have this feeling that it means something bad”. The Doctor opened his mouth to say something when the wrist device bleeped “Oh, hey, we’ve found Rose”, Freya reported “she’s on floor 407”.

Lynda gasped, her face full of horror “Oh, my God! She's with the Anne Droid! You've got to get her out of there!”

The four of them raced to the nearest lift where the Time Lord punched in the number for floor 407. The lift doors closed and it proceed upwards, toward their destination. “Come on…come on…!” the Doctor muttered impatiently, his eyes fixed on the numbers on the screen.

As soon as the lift doors opened, the group darted out of the lift. “Game Room Six, which one is it?!” the Doctor said looking around frantically.

“Over here!” Lynda called, over by a door.

“Stand back, let me blast it open”, Jack said holding up the defabricator which he’d taken from one of the robot ladies from the game he’d been stuck in.

“That won’t work. It's made of Hydra combination”, Freya said having sussed out what it was made off when they got there. The Doctor took out his sonic and pressed it to the touch sensitive pad.

“Come on, come on, come on…” he muttered, desperately as his device whirred away. Freya watched, biting her lip anxiously. Rose was on the other side of the door and her time was running out. They had to get in there!

After a couple of extremely tense minutes, the door opened. The four of them pelted into the room. “Stop this game!” the Doctor shouted. From over at the podium Rose turned, utterly relieved to see her friends. She quickly shoved it aside and took off toward the Doctor and Freya who were both running, the Time Lady just out in front.

Freya lunged for Rose as the Anne Droid fired, the beam catching them both. “NO!” the Doctor shouted.

“What the hell did you do to her?” Jack demanded, full of rage at the loss of both Rose and Freya. The Doctor closed the distance from where he was standing to the pile of ash which was all that was left of the two blondes. He dropped to his knees. Everything that was going on in the background just turned into meaningless noise as he stared at the ash in dismay…his hearts in pieces. His companion and his soulmate was gone. He truly was the last of his kind now. And it hurt, far more than it had done the first time around.

The Doctor was so far gone that he didn’t even notice the security guard approaching him. And he makes no effort to resist when he’s roughly hauled to his feet, a gun pressed against his head. There was no point in fighting when the only thing that he’d possibly fight for was gone.

~Dalek ship~

Freya was the first to wake, sitting up with a gasp. She was alive! She glanced to the side to find Rose laying there, still unconscious. The Time Lady reached over and shook the teen. “Rose”, she said quietly “Rose”, she repeated, a little louder this time around.

The young blonde sat bolt upright “Freya…” she breathed “w-we’re alive?”

“Yes, we are”, the Time Lady confirmed.

“I thought for sure we died”, Rose said.

“Well, we haven’t. We’ve just been transported somewhere”, Freya said. Rose about to ask where when something showed up that neither of them had been expecting. It was a Dalek!

“No, it can't be”, Rose exclaimed, clutching Freya’s arm tightly “Y-you're dead. I saw you die!”  

The Time Lady stared at the Dalek. She couldn’t believe there was another out there. She, like Rose had been so sure that the one in Van Statten’s museum was the last of its kind. Suddenly there was a flash of light and a woman appeared with a shaved head and holes all over her body. She looked up at the Dalek and the two more that had now joined the first.

“Oh, my masters…you can kill me, for I have brought your destruction”, she said gleefully. Freya turned Rose away as the bald, blind woman was exterminated.

“Its gonna be ok”, the Time Lady said quietly to the younger blonde as the Dalek’s moved away “the Doctor knows we’re here”.

“How?” Rose asked.

“He’s the Dalek’s ‘destruction’ the woman spoke of”, Freya replied.

“So…he’s definitely coming then?” Rose questioned, her hope rising.

“Yes, Rose. He is”, the Time Lady confirmed. She could feel it in her hearts. Even if that woman hadn’t appeared and warned the Daleks about their ‘destruction’, she just knew that the Doctor would come for them. She just _knew_.

Rose grinned but it was quickly wiped off when a Dalek wheeled over to them. “We have been detected”, it stated “the females will stand”. The Time Lady and teenager complied. “Open communications channel”, the Dalek ordered. A large screen appeared in the air showing the Doctor, Jack, Lynda and couple of people that were unfamiliar to both Rose and Freya.

The Doctor eyed the Daleks flanking his soulmate and companion with distaste. “ _I will talk to the Doctor”,_ one of the Daleks stated.

“Oh, will you? That's nice. Hello!” the Doctor waved at the Daleks mockingly.

 _“The Dalek stratagem nears completion. The fleet is almost ready. You will not intervene”_ , the Dalek warned.

The Doctor’s brows raised “Oh, really? Why's that, then?” he asked.

_“We have your associates. You will obey or they will be exterminated”_

“No”, the Doctor replied. Everyone looked at him, Jack staring at him as if he couldn’t believe what he’d just said.

“It’ll be fine”, Freya whispered, taking hold of Rose’s hand, giving it a squeeze. The blonde swallowed and nodded. If the Doctor said ‘no’ then he said it for a reason. He wasn’t going to leave them in the clutches of the Daleks. He wasn’t!

“Explain yourself”, one of the Daleks ordered.

 _“I said no”_ , the Doctor repeated.

“What is the meaning of this negative?” a Dalek questioned.

“ _It means no”,_ the Doctor said again.

“But they will be destroyed”, a Dalek reminded him. That had the Doctor on his feet.

“ _No! Cos’ this is what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna rescue them”_ , he said “I'm gonna save Rose Tyler and Freya from the middle of the Dalek fleet And then I'm gonna save the Earth, and then, just to finish off, I'm gonna to wipe every last stinking Dalek out of the sky!”

Rose grinned, hearing the passion in his voice. Freya’s hearts sped up from the way he’d spoken: passionate…determined… like a true hero. She’d been waiting for one every day she’d been imprisoned at the museum. She had been pleading to the universe to send her one. And by the stars, they’d sent her one all right. The Doctor…the last Time Lord. Her hero.

“But you have no weapons, no defences, no plan”, one of the Daleks pointed out.

The Doctor grinned on the screen _“Yeah. And doesn't that scare you to death”_ , he taunted. The Time Lord looked at both blondes “ _Rose? Freya?”_

“Yes?” the two of the chorused.

 _“I’m coming to get you”,_ the Doctor promised before he cut the transmission off with his sonic screwdriver.

“The Doctor is initiating hostile action!” one of the Daleks stated.

“The stratagem must advance. Begin the invasion of Earth!” another ordered. Freya pulled Rose out of the way as the Daleks began to spin around on the spot.

“The Doctor will be exterminated!” a third declared. 

“Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!”


	23. a rescue and a farewell

 

One of the Daleks stopped spinning and turned to the blondes. “You know the Doctor! You understand him! You will predict his actions!” it demanded.

“I don’t think so”, Freya said calmly.

“Predict! Predict! Predict!” the Dalek demanded, boarding on hysterical.

“No”, the Time Lady shot back. Before the Dalek could order her to ‘predict’ the Doctor’s actions yet again, a second one announced.

“TARDIS detected. In flight”

“Launch missiles! Exterminate!” the first Dalek ordered.

“You can’t!” Rose exclaimed “the TARDIS hasn’t got any defences, you’re gonna kill him!”

“You predicted correctly”, the first Dalek said, sounding as gleeful as a Dalek could.

“Its gonna be ok Rose”, Freya murmured quietly so that the Dalek wouldn’t hear “the Doctor will have something up his sleeve”. Rose looked at her, really hoping that she was right. Sure enough they both heard the wonderful sound of the TARDIS materialising. The pair could see the ship slowly start to appear around them, a breeze ruffling their clothes and hair. When engines of the blue box stopped, they were safely inside…unfortunately they had an uninvited house guest, the Dalek that had been right next to the females.

“Get down!” the Doctor shouted and they both hit the grilled floor. Once they were clear, Jack fired at the Dalek with his modified Defabricator, blowing it up. As soon as Freya and Rose were on their feet, the former received a very tight embrace from one worried Time Lord. “Are you alright?” he asked, looking down at her, searching her any signs of pain or distress, Jack doing the same for Rose.

“I’m fine”, Freya assured him “now that I’m back with you”. The Doctor smiled at her before all four of them went over to examine the smouldering remains of the Dalek.

“You said they were extinct. How comes they’re still alive?” Rose questioned.

“That one in Van Statten’s Museum can’t have been the only survivor of the Time War”, Freya surmised. It was the only thing that made sense. If that Dalek _was_ the only one left, then where did all those other ones come from?

Jack looked at the Time Lords surprised “I thought it was just a legend”, he remarked.

The Doctor shook his head “I was there. The War between the Daleks and the Time Lords”, he explained “The whole of creation was at stake. Our people were destroyed, but they took the Daleks with them”.

“The worst day of my life was when I couldn’t feel them anymore”, Freya said quietly “I’d never felt so alone” she glanced at the Doctor “then I met you. Your presence… both physical and mental…it was like a light in the dark. It made me feel safe” she touched his arm “so thank you for saving me”.

The Doctor smiled softly at his soulmate. He was glad that he made her feel safe when they first met. It was his job after all as her soulmate to make sure that she was safe and happy. Even if they weren’t soulmates, he’d still make it his top priority that she was both of those things and more. Though she probably wouldn’t be so happy about meeting him when she finds out the truth about how the War ended. And he was going to tell her, he just needed time…and the right words to explain his actions.

“We could barely stop one Dalek”, Rose spoke up, a worried look on her face “how are we gonna stop thousands?”

“No good stood around here chin-wagging!” the Doctor said, suddenly cheerful. He straightened up “Human-race, you’d gossip all day. The Daleks have got the answers, lets go and meet the neighbours” without even waiting for the other three to reply, he marched over to the door, pulled it open and stepped outside. The Daleks reaction to seeing the Doctor was to fire at him. Only, the bolts of energy seems to be bouncing off of a forcefield that surrounded the TARDIS.

“Is that it?” the Doctor asked, raising his hands mockingly “Useless! Nul points” he stepped forward to address the army of Daleks “Do you know what they call me in the ancient legends of the Dalek Homeworld? The Oncoming Storm. You might've removed all your emotions…but I reckon right down deep in your DNA, there's one little spark left, and that's fear” the Dalek’s eye stalks twitch nervously “Doesn't it just burn when you face me? So tell me. How did you survive the Time War?”

“They survived through me”

The Doctor turned towards the voice and was very startled when Dalek Emperor was illuminated, towering above all of them. Freya stared at the Emperor, wide eyed and pale, the colour having mostly drained from her face at the sound of his voice. She’d never met him before, thank Rassilon, but she was all too aware of his reputation during the War.

“Rose… Captain…this is the Emperor of the Daleks”, the Doctor said staring at the Emperor in both shock and awe.

“You destroyed us, Doctor. The Dalek race died in your inferno, but my ship survived, falling through time, crippled but alive”, the Emperor said.

“No…”, Freya whispered hand over her mouth. The Dalek Race was wiped out alongside their people. If the Doctor destroyed all the Daleks….

She shook her head. No, he didn’t do that. He couldn’t have committed genocide. There were hundreds of thousands of innocent people on Gallifrey, he couldn’t have ended all of their lives. The blonde Time Lady waited for him to deny it… call the Emperor a liar…

“I get it”, the Doctor said and Freya’s twin hearts shattered. Her so called ‘hero’ was a mass murderer.

“Freya?” Jack said quietly, seeing her tear up. She didn’t even answer him, she just turned and headed back to the TARDIS. As soon as she was inside, she went straight for her room. The moment the door was closed, Freya sank to the floor and cried, mourning the loss of her people…her home all over again.

She was too wrapped up in her grief that she didn’t even hear someone enter her room. Though she did stiffen up when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her “I’m so sorry Freya”, the Doctor said quietly.

“Why?” she sobbed “why did you do it?”

“I wasn’t going to initially”, the Doctor admitted “but when I overheard Rassilon and his plan…I had to do something”.

“What plan?” Freya sniffled looking up at him.

“He wanted to create a paradox powerful enough to destroy the whole of creation”, the Doctor explained. The Time Lady stared at him wide eyed, her grief momentarily forgotten as she listened to everything the Time Lord was telling her about what Rassilon had planned and what he did to end the war himself.

“How could he even consider…” Freya trailed off, shaking her head, not even wanting to say it. Thinking about it was hard enough.

“Maybe he was desperate or maybe he’d been twisted by the war…I honestly don’t know”, the Doctor answered “but what I can tell you is this…not a day goes by that I don’t regret what _I_ did. And I’m going to be spending the rest of my lives atoning for what I’ve done. I don’t expect you to forgive me Freya, nor do I expect you to trust me”.

Freya looked into his blue eyes, seeing the pain…the guilt within them. By all rights she shouldn’t forgive him. But she could clearly see that he was already punishing himself for his actions and going by what he’d just said, he was going to be doing that for a long, long time. “I forgive you”, she said quietly.

“What?” the Doctor asked, staring at her, not quite wanting to believe what she was saying.

“I forgive you”, Freya repeated “you’re punishing yourself enough, you don’t need me adding to it. Besides sometimes the only choices you have are bad ones…but you still have to choose. Yours in this instance was the lesser of the two”. The Doctor could only stare at her, surprised that she’d forgiven him so easily. He hugged her again. What did he do to deserve Freya as a soulmate?

Freya was going to ask him how it went with the emperor when there was a knock at the door. “I hate to interrupt but we’ve got some rather anxious people outside the TARDIS who want to know whats going on”, Rose called.

“You feel up to helping me stop the Daleks?” the Doctor asked his soulmate.

Freya nodded “Yes, I do”, she replied. The Time Lord stood up, pulling the blonde with him.

\-----------

“About time”, the male programmer commented as the four of them exited the TARDIS “I tried to warn Earth about the Daleks but all they did was suspend our licence because we stop the programmes”.

The Doctor sighed “so the planet’s just sitting there, defenceless” he then noticed Lynda “What are you still doing on board?” before Lynda could answer, the Time Lord rounded on the male programmer “I told you to evacuate everyone”.

“She wouldn’t go”, the male programmer said, defending himself.

“I didn’t wanna leave either of ya”, Lynda said smiling at the Time Lords “glad to see that you’re alright Freya”, she added to the Time Lady. Rose looked at her a little miffed at being ignored and also at how Lynda was looking at the two aliens.

“There aren’t enough shuttles anyway, or _I_ wouldn’t be here…we’ve got about a hundred people stranded on Floor Zero”, the female programmer added.

“There’s got to be something we can do to defend ourselves against the Daleks”, Lynda said.

“Oh, we’ve got plenty we can do Lynda”, Freya said “for example…” she turned to the male programmer “turn everything up”, she instructed “All transmissions, wide open!”

“What does that do?” the man asked.

“It’ll stop the Daleks from transmatting on board”, Freya replied. The male programmer nodded and did exactly what she said. The Time Lady glanced at Lynda with a look that says ‘see?’

“Anything else we can do?” the Doctor asked, loving that she was starting to take charge “anything this station can give us?”

“Well, it’s a massive transmitter…” Freya started when her eyes widened as an idea hit her “Oh! That could work!” the Time Lady rushed over to on one of the desks “Doctor give me a hand”, she said before grasping some wires and started to pull them out. The Doctor joined her and gave her a hand.

“What would work?” Rose questioned.

“Like I said, this place is a _big_ transmitter…has to be to be able to beam all those programmes to Earth. Anyway, if I tweak the signal…fold it back and sequence it….” Freya looked at Jack, expecting him to know this over Rose and Lynda.

He looked back at her for a moment before his brows raised “you’ve got to be kidding”, he stated.

“Nope”, Freya said.

“A Delta Wave?” the American queried, incredulous.

“A Delta Wave!” the Doctor repeated excitedly.

“Whats a Delta Wave?” Rose asked wondering why the Doctor was looking excited, Freya looking at him with a bemused expression while Jack was utterly surprised.

“A wave of Van Cassadyne energy. It fries your brain. Stand in the way of a Delta Wave and your head gets barbequed”, Jack explained.

“And this place can transmit a massive wave. Wipe out the Daleks!” the Doctor added.

Rose opened her mouth to say something when Lynda beat her to it with “Well, get started and do it then”. The blonde teen, closed her mouth, a rather disgruntled expression on her face.

“Trouble is, wave this size, building this big, it should take about, ooh, a day”, Freya informed them “that’s with both the Doctor and I working on it. How long till the Fleet arrive?”

“Twenty two minutes”, the Male Programmer replied.

The Doctor ripped out another cable from under the desk, stared at the end before he glanced at Freya. She looked quizzically at him, that is until he said something quietly in her ear. Then she grinned and nodded in agreement.

Several minutes later, the Time Lords had jerry-rigged the extrapolator to the computers and created a much larger version of the forcefield that had been surrounding the TARDIS.

“The forcefield doesn’t stop the Daleks from physically invading”, Jack told them everyone who was gathered around to computer which was all the humans. The Time Lords were still busy working away at the other desks, cables strewn out all over the place.

“Do they know about the Delta Wave?” the male programmer asked hoping they didn’t.

“They’ll have worked it out at the same time. So, if they want to stop the Doctor and Freya that means they’ve got to get to this level, 500” Jack points to a section on the illustrative diagram on the screen “Now, I can concentrate the extrapolator around the top 6 levels, 500 to 495. So, they’ll penetrate the station below that at level 494 and fight their way up”

“Who’re they fighting?” the male programmer asked.

“Us”, Jack replied.

“And…what’re we fighting with?” the male programmer asked worriedly. He’d never fought a day in his life.

“The guards had guns with bastic bullets, that’s enough to blow a Dalek wide open”, Jack explained.

“There’s 5 of us”, the female programmer said skeptically.

“Rose, can you come over here please”, Freya called.

“Great, now theres only 4 of us”, the female programmer grumbled as the blonde made her way over to the Time Lords.

“Can you strip this?” Freya asked holding up a wire and a pair of pliers “just to about here”, she indicated on the wire.

“Sure”, Rose said taking them from her and sat down on a nearby stool to get started on the task at hand. She didn’t even look up when Lynda was giving her farewells to the Time Lords. However, when Jack came over to say goodbye, she stood up.

“Its been fun!” Jack said lightly earning smiles from the trio “But I guess this is goodbye”, he added seriously.

“Don’t talk like that. The Doctor and Freya are going to do it”, Rose said. She didn’t want to say goodbye to Jack. Saying goodbye in this situation, had a note of finality to it, as if you were never going to see the person again.

“Rose…” Jack cupped her face “You are worth fighting for”. He placed a brief kiss on her lips and then turned to Freya “as are you Cinderella”. The Time Lady smiled at the moniker. It seemed like it was so long ago when she’d questioned whether the name was meant as something good or something bad. Not to sound big headed but she rather thought she’d come a long way from that dirty, scared, underfed person she once was in Van Statten’s Museum.

The former Time Agent kissed her forehead and then moved onto the Doctor. “Wish I’d never met you, Doctor! I was much better off as a coward”, Jack said. He gestured over to the door “see ya in hell”, he added and before their eyes, ran off.

“He’s gonna be all right….isn’t he?” Rose tentatively asked. The Time Lords could only look at her. They could lie but what would be the point? Especially since they knew that Rose was aware Jack wasn’t coming back.

 


	24. regeneration

The Doctor, Rose and Freya were now working on the floor in silence, the only three people left on Floor 500. “Suppose…” Rose started but didn’t finish.

“What?” the Doctor asked.

“Nothing”, Rose replied.

“You said ‘suppose’”, Freya said.

“No, I was just thinking…I mean, obviously you can’t, but…you’ve got a time machine. Why can’t you just go back to last week and warn them?” Rose questioned.

“I’m afraid that as soon as the TARDIS lands in that second, we’d become part of the events. Stuck in the timeline”, Freya explained.

Rose nodded. It was the answer she was expecting “Yeah, thought it would be something like that…” she admitted and carried on working.

“There’s another thing the TARDIS could do…it could take us away…” the Doctor said, earning him looks from both females “We could leave. Let history take its course”.

“I don’t know about you but I couldn’t do that”, Freya said “not when there’s something… no matter how small… that I can do to help”.

“I wouldn’t go either”, Rose agreed. Suddenly the computer whirred, making the Doctor jump up.

“The Delta Wave has started building”, he stated “how long does it need?” he asked aloud as he made his way over to the computer. When he looked at the screen, his face fell. Freya peered over his shoulder and her shoulders slumped. It was going to take far too long.

“Ok, its bad”, Rose said noting how disheartened both the Doctor and Freya looked “How bad is it?”

The Time Lord suddenly perked up, for the second time that day. Freya was pretty sure she was going to get whiplash from the way his mood chopped and changed. “Rose Tyler, you’re a genius!” he declared, giving the blonde human a kiss on the forehead “we can do it! If I use the TARDIS to cross my old timeline…yes!” he darted off to the TARDIS, the two females close behind. The trio go through the doors, the Time Lady wondering what the Doctor was up to. “Hold that one down and keep postion”, he instructed Rose.

“What does it do?” she asked pulling the lever down.

“Cancels the buffers”, the Doctor replied. Now she knew what he was up to, he was sending Rose home. It was a wise move considering that was slim to no chance that they were going to survive. Rose was still very young, she had the rest of her life ahead of her. “If I’m very clever, and more than clever, I’m brilliant, I might just save the world. Or rip it apart…”

“I’d go for the first one”, Rose said.

“Me too”, the Doctor agreed “Now, Freya and I have got to go power up the Game Station. Hold on!”

The Time Lord grabbed Freya’s hand and bounded out of the TARDIS. As soon as the doors shut, his ‘happy’ mood was gone. He let go of her hand, took out his sonic and pointed it at the TARDIS. The pair watched as it the blue box disappeared taking the now shouting Rose with it. “It had to be done”, Freya said, placing a hand on his arm “she’s safe now”. The Doctor nodded and went back to where they were working. Freya joined him but not without giving on last look at where the TARDIS had just been. Rose was going to be upset with them but at least she was going to live.

\-------------

Rose slumped against the TARDIS door both upset and annoyed. How could they do this to her?! She thought she was their friend and friends don’t trick or manipulate friends. She was too busy fuming to notice a hologram of the Doctor appear. It was only when he spoke, that she looked up. “This is Emergency Programme One. Rose, now listen, this is important. If this message is activated, then it can only mean one thing. We must be in danger. And I mean fatal. Either myself and Freya are dead or about to die any second with no chance of escape”

“No!” Rose cried.

“And that's okay. Hope it's a good death. But I promised to look after you, and that's what I'm doing. The TARDIS is taking you home”, the Doctor continued.

“I won't let you”, Rose said getting upset.

“And I bet you're fussing and moaning now. Typical. But hold on and just listen a bit more. The TARDIS can never return for us. Emergency Programme One means we’re facing an enemy that should never get their hands on this machine. So this is what you should do. Let the TARDIS die. Just let this old box gather dust. No one can open it. No one'll even notice it. Let it become a strange little thing standing on a street corner. And over the years, the world'll move on and the box will be buried. And if you want to remember us, then you can do one thing. That's all, one thing. Have a good life. Do that for us, Rose, Have a fantastic life”

Before her eyes the hologram of the Doctor flickered out of existence. “You can't do this to me. You can't. Take me back! Take me back! No!” Rose shouted trying to use the controls but the console doesn’t respond. Eventually she ran out of the TARDIS, tears streaming down her face. She went to the nearest bench and sat down, crying.

“Why so sad?” a young voice piped up. Rose glanced up to see a young girl of about 5 standing there.

“I got separated from my friends”, Rose replied wiping her eyes.

“Do you need help looking for them?” the girl asked.

Rose shook her head “I know where they are, I just can’t get to them”, she replied “and they need my help”.

“Maybe this’ll get you back to them”, the child said holding up a key. Rose took it from her and stared at it, the cool metal feeling strange in her hands after so long. It was her TARDIS key, the one the Doctor had given her which ended up being Freya’s after the Adam debacle. The words _Bad Wolf_ was stamped on it.

The blonde’s eyes widened. Bad Wolf, again! This seriously cannot be a coincidence. “Where did you…” Rose trailed off having looked up to see that the child was gone. She got up from the bench and walked quickly back into the TARDIS. The young girl who’d given her the key watched from a little ways away as the ship’s engines started up and slowly faded away.

“Safe travels Auntie Rose”, the girl said quietly before scurrying off.

\--------------

On Floor 500, the Doctor was preparing to pull the lever to set off the Delta wave, Freya’s clutching it as well. “What are you Doctor? Coward or killer?” the Emperor questioned. The Time Lord glanced at his soulmate and then removed his hands from the lever, surprising Freya.

“Coward any day”, he replied “I’m sorry”, he said quietly to the Time Lady. He may have wiped out their entire race without hesitation but he couldn’t kill Freya. Everyone, yes. His soulmate? No, not in a thousand years.

Freya let go of the lever “its alright”, she said, placing a hand on his cheek. He leant into her touch “everything has to go sometime. I’m just glad I met you. I wouldn’t trade a single moment for anything, not even to live a little longer”.

“I wouldn’t either”, the Doctor agreed. He brought her in for one last embrace, burying his face in her neck as he readied himself for his death.

Instead of hearing the cries of exterminate, the Time Lords heard something else, something that made them look up. It was the TARDIS. The pair stared, mouths slightly agape as the ship appeared. Then the doors flew open to reveal Rose, golden light spilling out around her. “Oh…” Freya breathed, eyes fixed on the teenager.

“What've you done?” the Doctor asked scared, pulling Freya back as Rose stepped out of the TARDIS.

“I looked into the TARDIS and she looked into me”, she said her voice echoing.

“You looked into the Time Vortex. Rose, no one's meant to see that”, the Doctor said staring at her.

“This is the Abomination!” the Emperor Dalek screamed.

A Dalek fired at her but Rose simply held up her hand. The bolt froze and reversed back into the gun. The Doctor stared at her amazed “I am the Bad Wolf, I create myself. I take the words…” the teen waved her hand at the words Bad Wolf Corporation “I scatter them in time and space” they rise up and float away “a message to lead myself here”.

“Rose, you've got to stop this. You've got to stop this now”, the Doctor said urgently. His companion looked straight ahead as if she hadn’t heard him.

“He’s right”, Freya agreed “You've got the entire vortex running through your head. You're going to burn”.

Rose suddenly looked at the Time Lords “I want you safe”, she said, tears in her eyes “My Doctor…My Freya. Protected from the false god”. 

“You cannot hurt me. I am immortal” the Emperor Dalek declared. Rose looked up at the Dalek facing her.

“You are tiny. I can see the whole of time and space. Every single atom of your existence, and I divide them” she raised her hand and the Dalek in front of her disintegrated into golden particles “Everything must come to dust…all things. Everything dies” she looked to the side and the Daleks lined up were also reduced to golden particles “The Time War ends”, Rose said as the Emperor and his entire mother ship turned into golden particles, dissolving away into oblivion.

“Rose, you've done it. Now stop. Just let go”, the Doctor urged.

“How can I let go of this?” Rose asked in hushed voice “I bring life…” In the corridor, Jack takes a huge intake of air as his eyes snap open… The Doctor and Freya felt what she’d done and they both knew it was wrong. “I can see everything. All that is…all that was…all that ever could be”, Rose continued.

The Doctor moved toward her, a look of understanding in his eyes. “That’s what I see. All the time”, he said softly “And doesn’t it drive you mad?”

“My head…its killing me…” Rose whimpered.

The Doctor reached out, cupping her face “I think you need a Doctor”, he said. He nodded to Freya, who moved around to stand behind Rose. She placed her hands on the teens temples and opened up Rose’s mind. The Doctor stared into the girl’s eyes and pulled out the time vortex.

Once it was all gone, Rose’s eyes fluttered closed and fell into his arms, unconscious. The Doctor laid her down and released the golden stuff back into his ship. He then scooped her up and carried her into the TARDIS, Freya following.

The Doctor put Rose down on the grilled floor and sent the TARDIS into the time vortex. He winced in pain as the regeneration process was starting. “Are you alright?” Freya asked, noticing him wince.

“Yeah, I’m fine”, the Doctor replied. When she gave him a sceptical look, he added “I promise Freya, I’m ok”.

The Time Lady nodded, though deep down she had a feeling that he wasn’t ‘fine’. Taking in the time vortex even for a short period of time can be incredibly risky. Rose groaned as she started to stir making Freya move from the Doctor’s side to check on her.

“What happened?” Rose asked, feeling rather disorientated.

“You don’t remember?” Freya questioned, surprised, helping her sit up.

“It’s like…there was this singing…” Rose said, struggling to remember.

“That’s right! I sang a song and the Dalek’s ran away”, the Doctor said cheerfully.

“I was at home…” Rose continued. She frowned “No…I wasn’t, I was in the TARDIS, and…” unseen by both Rose and Freya, the Doctor glanced down at his hand. The veins briefly shimmer with a golden light. “I can’t remember anything else…” Rose admitted.

Freya held her hands out to the teen and she took them. The Time Lady tugged her to her feet. “Rose Tyler…Freya, I was going take you to so many places”, the Doctor spoke up, earning their attention “Barcelona. Not the city Barcelona, the planet Barcelona. You'd love it. Fantastic place. They've got dogs with no noses” the Doctor laughed at his own joke. Rose giggled, half rolling her eyes. Even Freya was a little amused “Imagine how many times a day you end up telling that joke, and it's still funny”

“Then why can’t we go?” Rose asked.

“Maybe you will. And maybe I will. But not like this”, the Doctor replied.

“Doctor….does this mean…” Freya started, looking at him pointedly. The Time Lord nodded. “Why did you tell me you were fine?” she asked.

“I…” the Doctor began when he was suddenly forced backward with a blast of golden light. He clutched his stomach as though he’d been punched. “Stay away!” he said urgently as Rose rushed forward, her face full of concern.

“Doctor, what’s going on?” she asked looking at him worriedly.

“Long story short, every cell in his body is dying”, Freya answered “and he’s about to undergo a process, its going to look incredibly startling. Once its done his appearance will be very different. But I promise you, he will still be the Doctor”.

“And before I go, I just wanna tell you that you were fantastic” the  Doctor said to Rose with a smile. He was very proud of her as a companion. “I’m very glad I met you Freya. And d’you know what?”

“What?” Rose asked, struggling to fight back her tears.

“So was I” the Doctor grinned at her before seemingly exploding with orange energy. Rose and Freya stumbled backwards, the Time Lady shielding the teen’s eyes from the bright light while she watched the Doctor regenerate. His hair lengthened, his face changed and he grew slimmer.

The light suddenly died away, revealing a completely different man wearing the Doctor’s clothes. He looked slightly surprised for a moment before turning to the blondes who were both staring at him. Rose, in shock while Freya looked at him with curiosity. She wondered how this new Doctor would differ from the other one.

“Hello! Okay… Ooo” the Doctor stopped and frowned, running his tongue over his teeth “new teeth. That's weird. So, where was I? Oh, that's right. Barcelona”

The newly regenerated Doctor grinned at her.

 

**There we have it! _I See You_ is done! Thank you to everyone who faved and followed me. Thank you to all of you who reviewed, you know who you are. A big shout out to time-twilight, whom I adopted this idea from. And lastly, a shout out goes to my amazing friend Frosty600 and my fellow Misfits In Arms (you know who you are!)**


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